Seventy regional Queenslanders with undiagnosed, life threatening heart conditions have received urgent medical treatment, thanks to a mobile cardiac service bringing city-level care to rural areas.
Launched in October last year with foundation partner Arrow Energy, Heart of Australia brings medical specialists to people in the bush, where these services are lacking.
The service is about to notch up 12 months of saving lives in regional and rural Queensland, and has discovered undiagnosed cardiac conditions in 70 of the 2,100 people it treated during the year.
The diagnoses led to appropriate treatment, including 12 open-heart surgeries. A range of other treatments and care was given to hundreds of other patients, all of whom had been referred to the service by concerned general practitioners.
Dalby’s Gary Briggs is one of those patients.
“When I had my consultation we discovered that I was overdue to have a defibrillator inserted,” Mr Briggs said.
“The defibrillator was put in, I feel great and life goes on – I’m good for another 30 to 40 years!”
Heart of Australia – a 25-metre clinic-on-wheels drawn by a Kenworth prime mover – now travels to eleven Queensland towns, delivering fortnightly access to a cardiac and respiratory clinic.
“When I tell some people what happened they say ‘you went to a truck to get your heart checked out?’ … and they look at me a bit strange but it’s one of the best things I ever did,” Mr Briggs said.
“It turns up at the end of my street – how much more convenient can you get – and the service you’re going to get is as good as, if not better than what you would get elsewhere.”
Cardiologist and Heart of Australia founder Dr Rolf Gomes said the take-up of the service was resounding.
“When we launched last October we didn’t know how many regional Queenslanders would use the service,” Dr Gomes said.
“The level of engagement has been terrific – we’ve held over 100 clinics, seen over 2,100 patients and saved many lives.
“Since we’ve been on the road, it’s not just the direct medical benefit but the wider social benefit which has become quite obvious.
“In particular, in regions which are doing it tough battling local issues such as drought, the service brings optimism and a sense of connectedness with specialist health services – it’s terrific to create a conversation about health right in the heart of town.”
The Heart of Australia truck is complete with state-of-the-art equipment, two consulting rooms and a revolving staff of specialists and sonographers from Dr Gomes’ Brisbane-based practice and St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital.
Arrow Energy Vice President External Affairs and Tenure Management Leisa Elder said the first-year achievements were extremely gratifying for Arrow’s role in helping to bring the service to life.
“Dr Gomes came to us with an idea to take capital city-level care to the country where people were ill and even dying because they did not have easy access to specialist services,” Ms Elder said.
“Arrow, with workforces in both the Surat and Bowen basins, recognised the value of Dr Gomes’ proposition and helped him to bring it into reality.
“As the foundation partner, it’s great to see the positive difference Heart of Australia has made to thousands of lives across the state.
“Not only is it providing care to those in need, the size and scale of the program is also helping to raise heart health awareness throughout Queensland – and that is something Arrow is very proud to be involved with.”
Further information is available at the Heart of Australia website www.heartofaustralia.com.
Program deliverables
Since launching on 3 October 2014, the Heart of Australia program has:
- conducted 100 clinics
- assessed more than 2,100 patients
- identified 70 urgent cases
- referred 12 patients for open heart surgery
- identified 297 patients who require ongoing cardiology treatment
- saved each patient 650km per visit in travel (on average)
- reduced or eliminated hospital admissions by 119 days
- 30 per cent of patients have been Indigenous.
Fast facts
- The clinic, towed by a Kenworth prime mover, has two consulting rooms, ultrasound, electrocardiogram and cardiac stress testing equipment. It can instantly share test results with other GPs and hospitals and allow other specialists to dial-in through state-of-the-art telemedicine capabilities.
- Patients need a GP referral before undergoing a Heart of Australia consultation and specialist testing if required. Clinic consultations are a normal fee-for-service, in line with metropolitan rates.
- Heart of Australia is an extension of Arrow’s Brighter Futures community investment fund which has contributed more than $13 million to community projects across Queensland since 2011.
- Aside from Arrow’s foundation partnership, Heart of Australia has received funding and in-kind support from the Australian and Queensland governments, Bayer Australia, St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, IOR Petroleum, Kenworth, Telstra Country Wide, Brown & Hurley, Kia, GT Insurance, Regional Express Airlines and Bridgestone Australia.
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) affects one in six Australians and, on average, kills one Australian every 12 minutes (National Heart Foundation of Australia).
FOOTNOTE: Heart of Australia added Longreach to its northern route on 11 September this year.