Outreach to the Cook Islands

In early 2013, Mercy Hospice Auckland responded to a request from the Cook Islands Department of Health for three of their staff to visit Mercy Hospice Auckland for hands on experience with the prospect of establishing a palliative care service in Rarotonga. This was in recognition of the need locally and also the needs of an increasing number of NZ-resident patients who wished to travel to Rarotonga to visit family or to return home for in the final stages of their illness. There was also recognition of the number of Auckland-resident Cook Island patients with palliative care needs being referred to the hospice…read more