In Memoriam: Natasha Smith
By Dr Sarah Hurring
It is with deep sadness that we honour our treasured friend and colleague, Dr Natasha Smith, who died in January 2024.
Natasha grew up in Christchurch and was always destined to work in health given her love of people, intellectual ability and interest in the world around her. She studied at the University of Otago and returned to the Christchurch School of Medicine for her clinical years. She graduated in the class of 2001 and was one of the small handful of people to graduate her degree with distinction.
Professor Dick Sainsbury spotted her potential in her first rotation as a 4th year medical student and he was delighted that he could convince her to enter the Physicians Training program and he, along with other colleagues, were influential in her decision to train in Geriatric Medicine.
She graduated from Otago in 2001 and was one of a handful in her year to graduate with distinction from a class of 190; somehow not believing this to be a possibility she failed to tell her family about the special ceremony she’d been invited to and needed strong encouragement to ring them on the day, so they could attend. Natasha was awarded her Fellowship in 2014. Some of you will have worked with Natasha over the years – she was deeply committed to Christchurch as a born and bred Cantabrian and even lived directly across the road from The Princess Margaret Hospital where she honed her craft. She had a detective’s heart and was a master at the art of knowing what matters most with her patients – she loved hearing their life stories, the quirkier the better. Her brain was an incredible repository of details about her patients and she could recall minutiae about a patient she had looked after at the drop of a hat. Junior doctors and medical students remember her ward rounds fondly for her warmth and compassion, fun and obscure facts about things totally unrelated to medicine.
Natasha was involved in the ANZSGM New Zealand Division over many years – initially as a trainee representative and then as the secretary of the Executive. She became the chair of the Specialty Training Committee until she stepped down due to health reasons.
Natasha was a fond tea drinker and kept the department well stocked with a wide range of teas. In memory of Natasha we now have Tash’s Tea Trolley and she continues to help us get through the day with a lovely cuppa.
Natasha’s health quickly declined after Christmas. In true form, she only handed in her notice just a few days before her final hospital admission. She died with her beloved family around her in the Nurse Maude Hospice on 17th January, 2024. Natasha will be so missed by her friends and colleagues in Older Persons Health in Christchurch – we have already installed ‘Tash’s Tea Trolley’ for everyone to help themselves to a cuppa in her memory.
She has touched many people with her warm and generous heart, her compassionate clinical practice and her practical approach to life and is greatly missed.
Image Courtesy: Sarah Hurring
