More than 680 people registered to be patients at the Yackandandah Health Medical Centre in its first three months of operation.
CEO, Annette Nuck, said the Committee of Management made the decision to provide GP services in the town and started running the centre in mid-September last year.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised with the support of local residents who have really voted with their feet, showing how highly a quality GP service is valued in our community. This town has a history of taking ownership to address its service needs, so we were fairly confident they would support this initiative too,” Ms Nuck said.
Yackandandah Health recently received a Caring for Ageing Rural Australians (CARA) Large Grant’s Scheme grant of $37,367 toward the establishment of the Medical Centre. The grant, funded by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, is supported by the Ian Rollo Currie Estate Foundation.
“The funds will be spent on upgrading the telecommunications system, computer hardware and software, some furnishings and two consult room couches to meet manual handling requirements. We’re delighted to receive this support for the Doctors for Yack – A sustainable medical clinic for aged care and local community project,” she said.
Dr Tess Goodwin practices at the Medical Centre three days a week.
“Like us, Tess is committed to maintaining access to high quality local medical services for rural communities.
“Tess is a great rural procedural GP and comes with many qualifications and more than 10 years’ experience. She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners which denotes safe, specialised, high-quality general practice care.
“She also has an Advanced Diploma from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Tess provides ante-natal care for women during their pregnancies and she also works at Albury Wodonga Health in the maternity unit and birth suite as a GP Obstetrician.
“It’s very important to us that we have highly qualified doctors. We are looking to appoint another doctor in the coming months that is equally highly trained and experienced and compliments Tess’s areas of expertise. The long-term aim is to build the practice up to be open five days a week.”
Yackandandah Health is a progressive provider of aged care and allied health services that pursues innovative, inclusive approaches to meet community health needs.
It currently delivers a high-quality lifestyle for 67 aged residents. In August the first stage of its plan to adopt the European model of multi-generational accommodation will be realised when it opens new homes for up to 36 people as part of its $14million, four-stage development.