Kelly Pettit, MD
Board Certified Emergency
Medicine Physician
Kelly Pettit grew up on a Native American reservation, one of only a handful of non-native kids at his school. Now, as a VISTA physician tending to Maori people in New Zealand, Kelly recognizes a familiar warmth from these indigenous New Zealanders. He feels he's come full circle in a way. Still, on occasion, Kelly takes brief locum tenens assignments in the US — he recently came back to take his oral board exams and added on a short locum tenens posting that took him to small Western US towns and an Indian reservation.
Married but with no kids, he doesn't feel any pressure to settle down. "The reason why I chose to do locums is because I wanted to go abroad. [Working through VISTA] is much easier — they do all the necessary paperwork and everything." Moving freely between vastly distant job sites is easy with VISTA handling all the details, so he sees no reason to choose one home. He says, "More likely we'll split it, spending time in both countries.
"My wife, Gayle, decided to go to nursing school in New Zealand. She's actually paying resident prices. One of the nice things about locums is the flexibility to do her graduate work anywhere and I will be able to find work wherever she goes. Then later, as a nurse and doctor team, we can go as a team and visit all the places we want to see."
For now, New Zealand is what they want to see. Kelly says, "What I like about New Zealand is there's so much to do and it's easily accessible. Outdoor activities and scenery are amazing. In a half hour's drive you can find anything."
Kelly and Gayle are immersing themselves in New Zealand's surfing, skiing, mountaineering, climbing, and kayaking, all within minutes of their beautiful beachfront home. A house like Kelly's, where he and Gayle can descend their deck stairs into the sand, grab their boards, and run into the glimmering surf, is a miracle — the equivalent in the States is beyond the reach of plenty of well-established doctors — but it's a side benefit of Kelly's locum tenens assignment. "Being able to live in my house on the beach is ..." Kelly's voice trails off and, one assumes, a particular wave has caught his attention, causing him to bliss out.
Kelly says the medicine is similar to what he was accustomed to in the US, but with one nice bonus. "Everyone is more appreciative in New Zealand than the typical U.S. patient," he says. "You get thank you notes, letters, they'll even come in a few days later and bring you a plate of food or something. New Zealanders are real nice people. Ask anyone who's been to New Zealand and they'll mention how friendly the people are."
New Zealand has universal healthcare; Kelly hasn't minded the change. He says, "It's interesting, I would have expected that the ER might be abused as primary healthcare because it's free while it costs 20 bucks or something to see a regular doc. But since you have pretty good coverage, everyone's got a doctor and they don't abuse the ER. Working in the ER has been less of a transition than I thought. I didn't have to change my practice very much. The medicine is similar and the people are so nice. In fact, I just decided to stay on."
While Kelly and Gayle have just signed on for another stint in New Zealand, they anticipate that someday they'll move on to explore another land. When asked what part of the world they want to visit next, Kelly replies, "We want to see the whole thing."
