A heart clinic on wheels is looking to expand its circuit across western Queensland.
The Heart of Australia truck currently visits 10 towns around Queensland, from Dalby on the Darling Downs to Barcaldine in western Queensland and up to Hughenden in the state’s north-west, as well as other towns in between.
The 25-metre, 36-tonne truck brings cardiac specialists with enough rooms and equipment on board to provide a service that patients used to have to go to Brisbane for.
The general manager of Heart of Australia, Doug Brimblecombe, said the state-of-the-art truck was different to traditional doctors visits.
“The hospital may be able to deal with that with somebody in an aircraft coming out with a stethoscope and a briefcase but what we’ve also got here is the facility. We can do full testing here that normally you’d have to fly to the city to have.”
Doug Brimblecombe
“What makes us different I guess is that we have this facility,” he said.
“We bring specialists, which are cardiologists particularly at the moment, and we do some respiratory and sleep studies as well.
“The hospital may be able to deal with that with somebody in an aircraft coming out with a stethoscope and a briefcase but what we’ve also got here is the facility.
“We can do full testing here that normally you’d have to fly to the city to have.”
The truck made its first trip to Longreach last week and is looking to return on September 11 to establish the town as part of its 3,500-kilometre circuit.
For patients like maths teacher Luke Gavel, the truck will mean no more expensive and time-consuming trips to Brisbane.
“It was two days’ travel each way, plus one day to actually have the procedure done in Brisbane, so that was one week that I’d have to take off from work,” he said.
“The travel was all done by motor vehicle, so it cost several hundred dollars each way not even including wear and tear and accommodation costs, so it’s considerably more convenient.”
Dr Damien Roper is based in Brisbane but for the past four months he has been doing circuits on the Heart of Australia truck as one of its cardiac specialists.
“I think certainly 11 years ago I could never have seen myself doing the job I’m doing today and to be honest with you it’s a total breath of fresh air coming out and treating the patients out in western and north-west Queensland.”
Dr Damien Roper
Originally from Norwich, England, Dr Roper said the differences between medical school in his home country and practising cardiology from a truck in western Queensland were vast.
“Oh totally chalk and cheese,” he said.
“I think certainly 11 years ago I could never have seen myself doing the job I’m doing today and to be honest with you it’s a total breath of fresh air coming out and treating the patients out in western and north-west Queensland.
“When I compare this truck to what I have in Brisbane, we’re not really missing anything at all.”
