By Derek Schlennstedt
A Healesville paramedic and her partner have walked coast-to-coast across East Timor to raise awareness and funds for heart disease.
Paramedic Alison Bowen and Brenton Jukes, a patient transport officer with Wilson Medic One, did the trek in August as members of a team made up of doctors and medics from around Australia.
They raised more than $3000 toward the trek’s goal of $20,000 which will allow the charity East Timor Hearts Fund to provide a young patient with life-saving heart surgery in Australia
A skilled mountaineer and long-distance walker, Alison described this expedition as one of the toughest she had faced, walking for 10 hours a day with full packs in conditions that ranged from freezing on Mt Ramelau to hot and humid in the lowlands.
“Australia is blessed with a first-class health care system but things are very different for our neighbours in Timor-Leste, with children and young people suffering and dying prematurely from preventable and treatable conditions, such as rheumatic heart disease,” Alison said.
“As a paramedic, it was quite confronting to see first-hand some of the significant health and social challenges facing Timor-Leste, but I’m so glad to have had the opportunity, in a small way, to be part of the solution.”
The trek raised nearly $17,000 of its $20,000 target. To donate to Alison and Brenton go to easttimorheartsfund.org.au and follow the links.
