Our Journey

Te Puna Hauora has developed from humble beginnings to become an integral part of the community of Te Raki Paewhenua. We continue to strive to develop our capacity and our abilities whilst always maintaining the people as our fundamental focus. Here is our story. A constitution was established for Te Puna Hauora o te Raki Paewhenua in November 1996. It was decided that this step would be taken to keep the operations of the health centre completely separated from the Awataha Marae activities, but also to provide the local community the opportunity to have an unbiased representation in the activities of the health clinic.

The next big milestone was that Te Puna Hauora began operation in its own right as a Primary Health Provider on the 20th March 1997. As the first bulk funding from the Health Funding Agency   (HFA)was not due until the 20th April the CEO, had to approach the HFA for an advance $15,000 to   cover salaries and daily operational costs. The advance of $15,000 was duly deducted from the   20th  April 97 payment which of course meant the next months expenditure had to be managed   very prudently to ensure no overrun of expenditure occurred. Naturally the financial situation took   some 4-6months to stabilise before more staff etc could be employed. Throughout this time the   services continued to expand taking into focus a wider range of services. In December 2000 a   further milestone was reached where the Lady Allum building was procured for Te Puna Hauora   Health Care Services along with the Te Puna Childcare Centre also being established. The Childcare   Centre was opened for business in March 2001, while the Te Puna Hauora Health Care Centre was   opened for business in May 2001. The rest of the events are now history as Te Puna Hauora credibility continued to grow along with a range of expanding new services.

A further milestone was achieved when in November/December 2004 a house was purchased at 166 Birkdale Road, Birkdale which was later gutted and renovated to reflect a Primary Health Clinic. This was opened for business in April 2005. In November 2007, a further building (ex doctors clinic) was procured at 44 Akoranga Drive, Northcote which was upgraded to reflect a further Primary Health Clinic and remained in operation until the end on December 2013. Te Puna PHO was established for business on 1st July 2005 of which this business also ran from our Birkdale Clinic at 166 Birkdale Road, Birkdale. At this date services operate out of both Northcote clinics and Birkdale along with 3.0 FTEs also working in the Rodney area dealing with Mobile Mental Health.