Te Hiku Hauora wants to introduce our new GP, Dr. Tara Piech, who joined our team in September and has now signed on permanently at the Mamaru Clinic in Cooper’s Beach.
Board certified in family medicine, she joins Dr. Chris Brace, to deliver quality health care with a personal touch to people living in the area.
She says that she chose family medicine as her specialty because of the variety it offers, incorporating all aspects of medicine.
“What makes the job worthwhile is seeing a patient in follow up and finding that a treatment worked for them. I enjoy the minor procedures that we do and I enjoy the people I work with. We have a fantastic group of hard working, fun loving, dedicated and motivated people on this team and I’m thankful to be a part of it.”
“Part of being a family doctor is being able to not only assess the patient’s symptoms but their nature, their tendencies, their basic beliefs about medicine and then tailoring the treatment or non-treatment of their complaints. Most things can be improved with a good diet, keeping active and avoiding nicotine and alcohol. “
Although born in California U.S.A., at age 4 she moved to Peterborough, England where she grew up “for all intents and purposes as an English girl”.
At age 18 she joined the US Air Force and made it a lifetime career. In August 2015 at age 45 she retired from the military as a Lieutenant Colonel. Dr. Piech then packed up her husband Craig, her son Evan and their three dogs and moved to New Zealand where they are living happily ever after.
While in the military Dr. Piech worked on airfield landing and navigation equipment, as a national guardsmen for the Rhode Island Air National Guard with navigation equipment on C-130 cargo aircraft, and obtained her medical degree at Uniformed Services University in Maryland.
As part of her military service Dr. Piech worked as a lead physician in a busy clinic in North Carolina, was deployed to Balad, Iraq, to Al Udeid, Qatar; and did a three year tour in Geilenkirchen, Germany. During her time in Germany she travelled Europe extensively – her favorite location being Florence, Italy.
Her hobbies include gardening and spending time with her family and dogs. She enjoys rock music with favourites throughout the years, such as Def Leppard, Bryan Adams, Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam, Evanescence, Live, Nickelback and Seether.
Her political passions include sensible gun control, healthcare equality, taking care of the environment and limiting the power of large corporations (money).
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Piech to the community and Mamaru clinic.
