Gardening GP hangs up stethoscope

By Dion Teasdale
AFTER three decades serving the Healesville community as a general practitioner, Dr Ian Tinney describes himself as “just part of the scenery of the town”.
Dr Tinney, who was born in the United Kingdom in 1940 and grew up in Glen Huntly and Blackburn, joined the Yarra Valley Clinic in Healesville in September 1973.
When he undertook studies in medicine at Melbourne University in the late 1950s, Dr Tinney said he already knew he wanted to become a general practitioner.
“I’m the sort of person who likes to know a little about a lot, and I like working with people, so becoming a GP seemed like the natural thing to do,” he said.
After a year working as a GP in Tongala, a small country town in northern Victoria, Dr Tinney said he got a taste for life working at a country practice and the move to Healesville soon followed.
“Coming to Healesville was a bit of a tree change for me. I didn’t want to stay in the city and get caught up in competing with the Joneses. I wanted to make a place for myself and my family in a small community,” he said.
Dr Tinney and his first wife, Barbara, who died in 1992, arrived in town in their 1973 Ford Falcon and proceeded to raise a family of five boys together.
While migrating to the country was not usual for a GP in the early 1970s, Dr Tinney said he did experience an initial culture shock when he arrived in Healesville.
“The Healesville of 1973 was a lot different to what it is now. It was a basic town then and pretty rough at times,” he said.
Dr Tinney said working at the Healesville Hospital on weekends was a baptism of fire for him as the new doctor in town.
“The Saturday night ritual up at the hospital was waiting for the drunks to come in after all the fights at the pubs, and having to stitch them up,” he said.
“It was a very interesting time, and while I’m glad the town has evolved since those days, I do miss some of the colourful characters I met back then.”
Dr Tinney said he has always relished the opportunity of working closely with the local community.
“One of the best things about being a GP in a country practice is that you get to know people and families over time and generations,” he said.
“You develop a trust and a special bond with families that is quite unique and I’ve always found that to be very rewarding.”
At times the job has been challenging, Dr Tinney said, even for man with a natural inclination for being patient and a good listener.
“Being a GP is a bit like being a detective, a problem solver. You have to read what is unsaid, and the most important thing you can do is just listen,” he said.
Over his career, Dr Tinney has delivered close to 2000 babies, and performed countless tonsillectomies and appendectomies.
Dr Tinney’s second wife, Ruth, a registered nurse, who became his wife in 1994, said he’s also done his fair share of free consultations at home.
“Ian is a softie. He’s never put his patients into the ‘too-hard basket’ and he’s never been able to say no to anyone,” she said.
“People were always turning up at the Tinney house in the middle of the night for free consultations and medical advice.”
While he has retired from the Yarra Valley Clinic, Dr Tinney will continue to “keep his hand in”, working two days a week in Chirnside Park.
“I’m hoping I’ll finally have time to do some work in the garden, perhaps take up painting and play a bit of golf,” he said.