Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
Dr Anna Dyzel, for services to the community and health
Dr Dyzel has been a general practitioner in Hokitika since the early 1990s. She conducted research on growing a sustainable health workforce in Hokitika for doctors and nurses and developed standing orders for Rural GPs, which have been adopted by several District Health Boards around the country as well as the Best Practice Advocacy Centre.
She is also very active in her community, and has been involved with projects for Girl Guides, Scouts, St John, and seeding community service opportunities for the Department of Corrections. She was instrumental in initiating and running a major event for New Zealand's Children's Day, initially largely funded by herself and which has grown to an event that sees more than 2,000 people attending free of charge. She arranges fundraising events during the year to help fund this event. She has run the Hokitika Christmas Parade for 15 years and more recently led the fundraising of $20,000 for revamped town Christmas lights. She was instrumental in the establishment of a now well-used skateboard park in Hokitika. She supports Westland Industrial Heritage Park, Hokitika Heritage Inc., the Life Education Trust, and is a member of the Wild Foods Festival committee.