Photo: QE Health CEO, Dr Aaron Randell and Dr Anaha Hiini (Ngāti Tarāwhai, Ngāti Whakaue and Tūhourangi)

QE Health has opened the doors to its new $19M purpose-built health and wellness facility this morning following a karakia (blessing).

QE Health Chief Executive, Dr Aaron Randell, says today’s blessing and opening of the facility, now located at 1084 Hinemaru Street, is a significant milestone for everyone involved in the project.

“Plans for the new facility began way back in 2019, so between COVID lockdowns and rising building costs, there have been many challenges along the way – it was a great feeling to acknowledge that journey this morning,” says Aaron.

The former QE Health building on Whakaue Street was originally built 80 years ago as a convalescent home for soldiers returning from WWII.

“The building was never intended to be used for more than 15 years, but here we are more than 80 years later, with a new facility, which will serve the community for generations to come,“ he says.

While most services have re-opened at the new facility, the geothermal pools will not open until Monday 6 March as they are still being completed.

As part of the karakia, a rock was moved from QE Health’s former garden to the new facility’s reception. The rock originates back to the 1980s when the former Patient’s Association funded a Japanese-inspired garden as a quiet space for patients staying at QE Health.

QE Health Trustee, Mary Lean, says local sculptor Trevor Nathan has now carved a koru and the year ‘2023’ into the rock as the completion date of the facility.

“The rock symbolises a new beginning for QE Health and carries the spirit of the original building and what QE Health embodies into the new facility,” she says.

QE Health will host a community open day on Saturday, 11 March where members of the public can walk through and experience the facility themselves. Hosted by NZME, the event will also feature a free BBQ and spot prizes. A formal ministerial opening will take place on Friday, 10 March.

The new facility’s layout will provide visitors with a much-improved visitor experience with the gym, Pilates studio, Rachel Pools and clinic rooms all easily accessible to one another.

“Our new health and wellness facility enables us to take our unique, clinically integrated approach to health and wellness to the next level,” says Chief Executive, Dr Aaron Randell.

“One of our aims is to provide additional health and wellness options for more Kiwis – an aspect which is becoming increasingly important as our population increases and ages,” he says.

QE Health is New Zealand’s only clinically integrated health and wellness centre. It provides a complementary range of personalised clinical health services to help people reach their wellbeing goals.

The new facility has been funded through a series of predominately loans and some grants from Kānoa, the Government’s Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit, Rotorua Trust, and Rotorua Lakes Council.