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History of Hearty Towers: medical heritage audio
Part of Auckland Heritage Festival 2025.
Listen to Heart and Lung Transplant Coordinator of Cardiovascular Services Helen Gibbs and physiotherapist Sue Webb recount a fascinating slice of Auckland’s medical heritage: the history of Hearty Towers, the hub and home for heart transplant patients. Use SoundCloud and Google Maps to explore this content.
Audio (below): Click on the red heading of each section below to access individual audio tracks, or click here to access the playlist for the full audio interviews.
Map (above): Explore our self-guided walking map to follow the steps of the early heart transplant patients’ ascent up Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill.
When walking through the grounds of Cornwall Park, please take care and note that some walking tracks are located close to roads. You could park on Pohutakawa Drive (Point 1), walk across the park to join the walking track (Point 2), and walk up to the summit of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill (Point 3).
Part of Auckland Heritage Festival 2025.
Listen to Heart and Lung Transplant Coordinator of Cardiovascular Services Helen Gibbs recount a fascinating slice of Auckland's medical heritage: how the delivery suite at the ‘old National Women's Hospital’ is now Hearty Towers - a hub and home for heart and lung transplant patients. How and when did Hearty Towers begin?
New Zealand’s first heart transplant took place in 1987 and Hearty Towers very quickly became the hub for heart transplant patients. Hearty Towers has evolved to provide a unique national service for transplant patients with Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park remaining a focus for patient recovery.
Hear about New Zealand's innovative heart transplant programme, the patients’ rehabilitation plan, and the significance of Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill. Could you climb for your heart and walk to the top of the volcanic cone, as some heart transplant patients took the opportunity to do?
Explore our self-guided walking map to follow in the steps of the early heart transplant patients’ route to recovery. Note that the One Tree Hill Obelisk is a Category 1 Historic Place with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
Helen Gibbs has been Heart and Lung Transplant Coordinator of Cardiovascular Services for over thirty years, while Sue Webb was physiotherapist in 1987.
Click on the red heading of each section below to access individual audio tracks, or click here to access the playlist for the full audio interviews.
Tracks 1 - 7 are from an interview with Helen Gibbs, Heart and Lung Transplant Coordinator of Cardiovascular Services. Track 8 is from an interview with Sue Webb physiotherapist.
"A rehabilitation residence for heart transplant patients and their families." - Sue Webb, physiotherapist