My Time at ADHB

I worked at the Greenlane Clinical Centre from August 13, 2021 to January 7, 2022. Here's what I have to say about it: 

I love my job.

I’m a medical scheduler and administrator for Adult Community Services under the Auckland District Health Board. The majority of my job involves talking to patients to schedule their appointments, a task that is equal parts uplifting, depressing, unsettling, and hilarious. 

The Adult Community Services are a set of government funded services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, speech language therapy, continence (which I was personally responsible for), gerontology nursing and others. Patients need to be referred by their GP and then go on a waitlist, sometimes for months. The government target is 180 days between being referred and receiving an appointment but patients sometimes have to wait much longer. 

What a surreal way to experience the first few months of life in a new country—working in the medical system during a global pandemic. 

What better way to experience a new culture, life in a different country, than to be embedded in the system, speaking to various people as they navigate some of the most vulnerable and terrifying times of their lives? I spend my day listening to their hopes and fears and becoming a part of their support system. Engaging with the healthcare system so intimately gives me a unique perspective on how things work in this country. 

One man has brain cancer and doesn’t have long to live but his physiotherapist gives him hope. He’s in our Community Rehabilitation service which means that he’s previously been admitted to the hospital and then referred to us for urgent rehabilitation. I spend thirty minutes on the phone with him discussing Covid and life in general and I am saddened the next day when I have to cancel the appointment we booked because he’s been admitted to the hospital. 

One woman asks if she has to wear clothes to her appointment while another rages at me on the phone for an hour with no input from me. One screams with joy when I call to offer her an appointment and thanks God for me. I speak to the nurse at a rest home who needs urgent paperwork from us to release a husband and wife who want to die at home with their children. 

Many of our patients are lonely and some of the elderly gentlemen flirt with me over the phone. I get the feeling that I am the only person they’ve talked to this week. Sometimes they tell me heart-wrenching stories: they have no food, no money and no method of transportation. They are estranged from their families, sometimes supported by friends, and sometimes alone.

Some of our patients might otherwise be lost to society if it weren’t for their contact with us. They have no next of kin or friends and the only numbers listed on their files are hotel or motel receptions. I worry for these patients and wonder what path through life led them here. 

One woman’s partner just had a stroke, this one’s parents have dementia. Some of them come from different cultures and speak different languages and I have to book interpreters for them but that’s also part of what makes this country what it is. I’ve picked up a few words of te reo Maōri, Samoan and Tongan from our patients. There’s one family from Peru and I take every chance I can to speak with them in Spanish. They are surprised at first but grateful that someone has taken the effort to speak their language despite the mistakes. Spanish isn’t a commonly spoken language here.

It's been a long and wild ride and these are just a few stories from my time here. I made some of the best friends of my life here. I heard stories that changed my perspective on life and altered the way I carry myself through the world. I experienced personal and professional growth of unforeseen magnitude. It's hard to write succinctly about such experiences 

Ultimately, I know that I made a difference in people's lives and that's all I've ever wanted to do. I worked hard at my job and always gave my best and for that, I am proud. Even when it was hard and I hated it, I absolutely loved it.