Restructuring health and rural communities in New Zealand

The recent restructuring of health-care provision has particularly a•ected rural communities in New Zealand, a nation characterized by an emerging biculturalism in its policies and outlook. In this article we develop a framework linking health care, the rural experience of place and the national cultural fabric. After presenting the stories of two North Island communities undergoing transition, we consider the role of health care in influencing the broader health of rural settlements as communities. We conclude that for communities as well as their residents, health and place are mutually constituted through the activities of health-care provision.