Golden Bay favourite stands for District Health Board

September 16th, 2016

Only one Tasman rural candidate, the popular Golden Bay retiring councillor Martine Bouillir, is standing for the election of board members for the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board.

Martine (pictured) says voters could be forgiven for thinking the DHB election has nothing to do with them, given that the list of candidates are mostly urban Nelson and Marlborough candidates

She is the only Tasman rural candidate in the list of 15, seven of whom will be elected.

After 6 years as a TDC Councillor and Community Board member, she leaves her position as Chair of both Community Grants and Creative Communities and Deputy Chair of Community Services.

She will remain on the FLAG (Takaka Catchment Freshwater and Land Advisory Group) and the Golden Bay Cycle and Walkways (Pohara to Takaka) project.

Martine supports community health care, not corporate health systems and believes that the answers lie in localised solutions to healthcare where possible.

"I champion freedom of choice in all matters relating to health, particularly where communities are affected such as fluoridation, where councils and ratepayers will pick up the tab for highly contentious mass medication of water supplies.

"If fluoride is desired, these programmes should be targeted where needed - topical application is the most efficient form of this treatment, not tampering with the purity of our water.

"We need holistic health models that look at the entire wellbeing of a person and of communities. In an over-medicalised and pharmaceutical-driven society, we need preventative models based on healthier living concepts and options around the kind of healthcare we prefer.

"I will remain vigilant around central and local government policies that enable and support health and wellbeing eg social policies around healthy affordable housing; clean, safe water; healthy, nutritious, locally-sourced, sustainably-grown foods etc. It's important to keep the big picture of our region in mind when considering health issues.

"I support close-to-home mental health care, respite and rehabilitation programmes that support those who need a hand up. It is communities who support their vulnerable, but volunteers are exhausted and getting older - we need our DHBs to provide services for those most in need in our home towns.

"I support new lifestyle models for our elders - options to live with all age groups in integrated living facilities."

Martine adds another word of caution: Voters must register their preferences with numbers from "1" onward, not a tick. Ticks on the voting sheets will not be counted.

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