No doc drought

By Kath Gannaway
IS THERE a doctor in the house?
There is now! Three in fact, at Cameron House (medical centre) in Yarra Glen.
Yarra Glen Medical Precinct Group (YGMPG) chairwoman Dorothy Barber announced last week that Yarra Junction GP Dr Peter White would commence practice on 9 June.
The township of more than 3000 people has been without a medical service for almost two years after Healesville-based Yarra Valley Clinic closed its Yarra Glen rooms in 2007.
Both Ms Barber and Yarra Glen Chamber of Commerce past-president Marjorie Woollands who led the campaign to get a doctor back on board were ecstatic last week saying having an established practice come on board was the best possible outcome.
Dr White has operated the Yarra Junction Medical Centre for 27 years, serving a community very much like Yarra Glen.
Ms Woollands was instrumental in lobbying for a doctor for the town in the face of a critical shortage of rural doctors.
Hopes were dashed on more than one occasion as doctors proved unsuitable.
“The doctors being referred to us were overseas-trained or newly graduated doctors who were required to have supervision, or didn’t have the resources to set up a surgery,” Ms Woollands said.
Cameron House was leased from the Uniting Church and with support of the local community, including many local businesses, was set up to meet the criteria for a medical clinic.
Ms Barber and Ms Woollands acknowledged the role of Seymour MP Ben Hardman who they said had supported their campaign from day one and had been instrumental in obtaining funding to pay rent when they had no income.
“If it had not been for his advocacy we would have lost the house,” Mrs Barber said.
Ms Woollands said the compulsion to keep fighting for a doctor for the town was simply the need.
“Initially it was the frail aged and young families who have difficulty getting to Healesville to see a doctor, but since the bushfires it’s people with burns and other health conditions related to that disaster,” she said.
Dr White said he couldn’t believe when the proposal was first put to him that Yarra Glen didn’t have a doctor.
He said he and his colleagues, Dr Michael Schwarzbord and Dr Malini Colambage are looking forward to working with the Yarra Glen and wider communities.
“Everything is there for us to start up – ramps, car parking, phones, office furniture – they have done a terrific job,” he said. “All we have had to do is put in some extensions for our computers.”
Two counsellors and a physiotherapist are already operating out of Cameron House, and since the bushfires a range of health professionals have been working on a voluntary basis at the house.
Ms Woollands said the future of the clinic was very much reliant on people using it.
“We have finally achieved this and the message we want to get out there is simply please support it because if you don’t it may not be there.”
The clinic will operate from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday with a possible closure on Wednesday afternoons.