Jennie Lewis was born, raised and educated in Dunedin (from primary school through to graduation from the Otago Medical School in 1978), but took a VSA year in Tonga in 1972 between school & university. This seemed to have germinated a taste for foreign travel and adventure, which has rather punctuated the careers which followed in both medicine and parenthood.
Jennie was acquired as a "travel souvenir" (and wife) by a young American "backpacking" through Dunedin in the late 1970s, and after graduation she followed his further education through Atlanta, London (UK), Los Angeles & Honolulu, picking up the medical career opportunities as they presented themselves. This allowed tastes of general practice on the South side of London and in the semi-rural "wild-side" of Oahu (Hawaii), locum SHO jobs at Guys Hospital in London in Geriatrics and Dermatology, and a year of "medical internship" at Queens Hospital in Honolulu.
In 1984 eldest son James was born, just prior to his father obtaining a Fullbright lecturing position in Tianjin, Peoples' Republic of China. Jennie "retired" into child rearing, under some fairly challenging conditions in a nation which was still strenuously Communist. A basic Mandarin speaking capacity was acquired by immersion - but she remains "illiterate"! The Mandarin has gradually rusted through less use since, as the language of the following year in Guangzhou & the ensuing five years in Hong Kong was Cantonese.... Both these languages need some sort of refresher course to become truly useful again.
Tom was born in Hong Kong in 1986, and during his kindergarten years Jennie was acquired as a part-time Research Assistant and Honorary Clinical lecturer by the (English speaking!) General Practice Unit of the University of Hong Kong. By 1991 the marriage was ended, and Jennie returned to New Zealand with the two boys to undertake the General Practice Registrar training year where the opportunity was offered, in Auckland. Jennie worked in general practices in Parnell and on the North Shore in Auckland, before joining the St Lukes Medical Centre, in Mt Albert in 1994 - where she worked until returning to Dunedin in August 2002, her sons having embarked upon their own "O.E". Through the years her practice has included a large component of work in women's health, and with patients communicating across cultural divides (not just Asian...)
In 1998 Jennie obtained her specialist qualification in Family Medicine - the FRNZCGP. She is loving rediscovering her Dunedin roots, and re-establishing contact with old friends and remaining family. She looks forward to adventures rediscovering the Southern landscape walking and exploring, and learning how to manage her newly acquired well-established older home, with garden. In my free-time, I enjoy art and design, tramping, travel, and the company of friends and family. |
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