North Canterbury News: October 01, 2020

For Continuity
Of Care
At Pegasus Medical Centre we pride ourselves on our commitment to our Staff,Patientsand the Community.
Pegasus Medical Centre is committed to its community.
As the busy practice continues to grow, itprovides
patients with access to avariety of clinics and specialists
at the practice.
Today it has seven doctors, six receptionists, five
nurses and aclinical assistant. It has ateam of visiting
specialists offering everything from Psychology,
Midwifery, Dietary, gynaecology, obstetrics, cardiology,
foot care, audiology, colorectal &General Surgery and
Hand &Orthopaedic clinics who use the Medical Centre
to support the wider North Canterbury community.
Practice Manager Nicky Sloss says this ensures lengthy
trips into the city can be avoided and patients are often
able to access the services they require quicker.
The practice recognises good healthcare can
strengthen acommunity and the Doctors, Nurses and
Administrative staff work hard to accommodate all
patients in atimely manner. This was especially true
during lockdown and the resulting Covid 19 levels that
followed.
We are absolutely committed to our community here at
Pegasus Medical centre and on the wellbeing of both our
patients and our Staff” she says.
Nicky said the response to the initial lockdown in March
by the practice was both quick and agile as they adapted
to meet the fast changing environment.
Owners Dr John Dehn &DrJanet Robinson
immediately put aplan in place to ensure all staff were
informed and supported, organising medical supplies
including PPE together with additional resources to keep
everyone safe.
“Covid 19 has been challenging for us and for our
Patients. We have worked extremely hard within the
guidelines set out by the Ministry of Health which have
changed sometimes on adaily basis to deliver the best
care we can particularly for our elderly and vulnerable
patients” says Dr Dehn.
Morning huddles at the start of the day kept staff
informed on the pandemic and provided an opportunity
to discuss updates and implement any changes required
to work within the guidelines.
Patients were to the fore as telephone consultations
were offered which for awhile replaced face to face
consultations in abid to decrease risk for everyone.
Patients requiring face to face consultations were initially
seen in the car park if they showed any Covid like
symptoms which often resembled awaiting room with
cars full of patients waiting to see the Doctors or get their
flu vaccines safely away from others.
“All the Staff worked extremely hard to accommodate all
requests often under very trying circumstances and are
to be commended for their dedication and resilience at
such adifficult and uncertain time” says Nicky.
Dr Dehn says anew Patient portal via the website is
now available to assist Patients to book routine online
appointments, request repeat prescriptions and to
access lab results. This will be agreat tool for our
patients and we hope more of them will take advantage
of this technology” he says.
Dr John Dehn continues to offer skin checks and minor
surgeries at the Practice. This year Dr George Dehn
joined the team as aGPand has aparticular interest in
Musculoskeletal disorders.
KAREN Sloss
NICKY Sloss
Clinical nurse lead Karen Sloss has been with the
Pegasus Medical Centre since it opened its doors in 2013.
“The growth has been incredible.We have moved from
the initial small complex across the road to our spacious
purpose-built facility which is great to work in” Karen
says.
As lead nurse Karen says her role, outside of the daily
general nursing duties, is to support the nursing team of
six, liaising with the GPs and practice manager on clinical
matters.
“We work hard to support each other and to use our
individual strengths to improve patient outcomes. For us,
the patient is the main focus.”
Karen says it is great to work in an environment with
ateam that can offer awide range of services. “We offer ahigh level of acute care and a
variety of planned services.”
Karen is particularly proud of her nursing teams’ efforts during the Covid-19 lockdown
because alot of the initial communications with patients had to be over the phone.
This meant having to adapt to arapidly changing situation Karen says.
“It was achallenging time for us and our patients, but the team was flexible, responsive
and professional.”
Nicky Sloss, the new Pegasus Medical Centre
practice manager arrived amid the Covid 19
crisis earlier this year.
“It was abit of abaptism of fire to be
honest” said Nicky but she was immediately
struck by the willingness of all the Staff to
do what was needed and by the unwavering
support and leadership of both John &Janet.
Nicky comes from aprivate surgical
hospital background where she was initially
responsible for scheduling surgeons
operating list to eventually working as Patient
Services Manager and managing Reception
and Concierge Staff.
She took ayear off to travel to the UK and on her return home at the end of
October last year enjoyed ashort stint working for her friend who has aflorist
shop in Rangiora.
Deciding she wanted to return to the healthcare industry Nicky isenjoying
the diversity and challenges of general practice and is feeling grateful to be
working for apractice that values its Staff and strives for excellence in the
delivery of community based healthcare.
Ph 03 920 4060
52 Pegasus Main Street, Pegasus 7612
www.pegasusmedicalcentre.co.nz
Monday to Thursday 8am -6pm
Friday 8am to 5.30pm
Saturday 9am -1pm
By appointment
2313657