Auckland’s new retirement-health clinic opened at the wrong address on Tuesday, sending 173 people to a shuttered medical suite before they found the door. By the end of the day, its 67-year-old founder, retired nurse Lora Bednar, had been referred for same-day medical assessment after a routine check found her blood pressure at 188/104.
The launch of Second Season Health Hub in Onehunga was meant to welcome 220 booked clients. Instead, an online map pin directed many to a former clinic in Ōtāhuhu, about 9 km (5.6 miles) away; 61 people missed their appointments, and staff spent hours redirecting callers and arranging new slots.
A detour before the first check
Bednar, who worked in clinics in Durban before moving to New Zealand, retired in 2024 after decades in nursing. She says the loss of routine left her sleeping badly and reluctant to ask for help. “I thought retirement was meant to feel like a long holiday. For me, the first months felt like somebody had switched off the lights,” she said.
The hub grew from that experience: a low-cost service for people whose health changes as work ends, with nurse consultations, sleep support and referrals to general practitioners. Bednar says she spent a year gathering feedback from retirees and persuading funders that a transition many families treat as purely financial can also affect health.
I built a clinic for people who think they have to disappear when the job ends, and I was the one who forgot to check myself.
Lora Bednar, founder of Second Season Health Hub
After most of Tuesday’s clients had been seen, Bednar sat down for a check she had postponed. A repeat reading remained high, so a clinician advised same-day assessment. Bednar said later she had followed that advice and was arranging further care; she did not share a diagnosis.
The price of a wrong pin
The address error came from an old map listing copied into the clinic’s booking page, according to Abdul Gulati-Wadhwa, the hub’s public-health adviser. “We had the right building, the right staff and the wrong blue dot,” he said. The page was corrected Tuesday afternoon, and staff called people who had been sent to the closed suite.
The project has NZ$184,000 (about €96,000) in first-year funding and plans to offer 1,200 appointments. Gulati-Wadhwa said 412 people answered a pre-launch questionnaire; 38% said retirement had disrupted their sleep, exercise or sense of purpose. The survey was not designed to measure health outcomes, he cautioned.
For client Marcelina K. Jasiński, 71, the detour meant a bus ride back across south Auckland and a missed morning appointment. She still returned in the afternoon. “I came because I don’t want to wait until something is badly wrong,” she said, adding that staff found her a new slot before she left.
The hub will offer replacement appointments over the next two weeks and says it will check every booking confirmation against the clinic’s street address before sending it. Bednar plans to keep working two days a week, but says she has also agreed to become a client. “I can’t tell people to take care of themselves and keep putting myself last,” she said.
