Garth’s career in the health service commenced with the former West Coast Hospital Board at Seaview/Westland Hospitals and since 1982 at Ashburton where he came as Chief Executive of the then Ashburton Hospital Board. He has held the Senior Management role for Ashburton services since and then through the various changes in the health service.
 
Ashburton & Community Health Services Division has a rural focus with Ashburton being the base for supporting a number of hospitals in the wider rural Canterbury area. Ashburton Hospital and Tuarangi Home have been accredited with Quality Health NZ since 1993 achieving a very high standard. As a Surveyor for Quality Health NZ since 1992 has visited many hospitals and health services throughout New Zealand. With one of the Government strategies to improve rural health services, establishing linkages with the various health providers throughout rural Canterbury is a high priority within the new Canterbury District Health Board.

Carolyn Cooper

I started my career training to be a Registered General and Obstetric Nurse at Masterton Hospital back in 1979– Masterton is a small but diverse place to begin a career in health. I gravitated to ICU/CCU and eventually developed a passion for emergency nursing. In a small rural place there is a high demand on emergency services and it can be quite a challenge to deal with the volumes of accidents with limited staff.

After many years of night duty including some as Night Manager I moved into a management role for acute services. I then decided I had better look further afield and was appointed as the Clinical Nurse Manager of the Emergency Department at Hutt Valley Health. This was the start of my “commuting” from the Wairarapa to the Wellington region, which continued with a train trip of 1 hour and 40 minutes each way most days for 8 years. From Hutt Valley Health I moved to ACC where I learnt about the world of contracting and then moved to the private health sector for several years. This included managing a private hospital and 2 years as the Executive Director of the Private Hospitals Association.

During this time I was very involved in aged care and advocating for improved services for residents in the community setting. The public sector drew me back with a role in Rotorua as Woman, Child and Family Service Manager. This was a challenging place to manage these services but was very rewarding. During my time at Lakes DHB I also was Quality and Risk Manager for 3 months and ended up as GM for the provider arm for 3 months prior to taking up the role as Operations Manager at Burwood when my partner and I decided to move to Canterbury to be closer to his family. The role at Burwood has been an excellent entry to Canterbury DHB. The unique services, the focus on rehabilitation and the strong positive culture has been enlightening. The move to work across the OPHS and Rehab division as GM and to include Older Persons Health Specialist Services is one I am very excited about. Getting to know more about the rehabilitation services provided and the strong community emphasis is a priority. The role also covers the community dental service an area I have not had a lot to do with but one that I am looking forward to supporting as GM.

I look forward to working with the Older Persons Health Specialist Service .

Trevor commenced work as a trainee medical technologist at Christchurch Hospital and completed his last year at Pearson't Laboratories (now Medlab South) specialising in Biochemistry. He then left New Zealand for Sydney and continued to work as a Medical Scientist in Biochemistry until taking a year off to travel.

Returning to Sydney, Trevor focused on management working in private pathology organisations as laboratory manager and compay director, in the public sector as Chief Hospital Scientist and Area Pathology manager, and as a Project Manager for IT installations. He achieved a Masters of Applied Science (Clinical Biochemistry) and a Masters of Business Administration.

In the late 1990s Trevor left Sydney and pathology to move to Canberra to take up a position as CEO of a private Radiology group. During this time he was also involved in the medical imaging industry as Vice President of the Australian Diagnostic Imaging Association. After 5 years in Imaging and a period as a consultant in Canberra, Trevor moved to the commercial sector as Business Area manager for a large global diagnostic supply organisation.

Trevor joined Canterbury Health Laboratories as General Manager in January 2006.

Sandra Walker

Sandra began her career as a psychiatric nurse, undertaking her training in Christchurch at Sunnyside Hospital. Following a number of years’ practice as a nurse in the early 1980s, Sandra moved into nursing leadership roles, initially as a Unit Manager at Sunnyside Hospital.

Sandra has gained wide experience in both the public and private mental health services in Victoria Australia, including experience in the re development of public mental health services, building of and amalgamation of private mental health services. She has been involved in a number of steering and partnership groups and Ministerial Advisory Groups focused on improving primary health services to the community. Sandra has also achieved her Graduate Diploma in Business Management and Certification in Quality Improvement.