WHETHER it’s sowing, harvesting, lambing or cultivating – most farmers could think of a thousand things to do before going to get a general health check up.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) is easing the effort and travel required to go see the doctor for people living in rural Australia by bringing health facilities to them.
This year, agribusiness banking specialist RaboBank has supported a health clinic run by the RFDS to attend the Walgett show, kicking off on Saturday.
Women and men have been invited for a free screen across five health areas; skin cancer prevention, diabetes, alcohol misuse, blood pressure and mental health.
RFDS health services general manager Linda Cutler said there would be a qualified team of nurses, general practitioners and psychologists assessing patients.
To ensure the health checks are effective, Mrs Cutler said if patients have any issues that need following up, they’ll help put them in contact with local health services to do so.
“To do a screening and not provide a follow up isn’t good practice,” she said.
Mrs Cutler said the idea behind taking health facilities to the rural people, was to encourage them to have a check up, even if they’re feeling fine.
For a lot of people, farmers especially, getting to the doctor can be inconvenient and hard to work in with daily schedules.
Mrs Cutler said this could mean illnesses that are easily detected in a screening could go unnoticed and untreated.
“There’s so many people in rural Australia who don’t see a doctor routinely,” she said.
“We saw a gentleman at the Gilgandra show that hadn’t been to a general practitioner or hospital for over 20 years, there’s very high risk factors in that.”
National Rural Health Alliance chief executive officer Kim Webber said going to rural areas to deliver health care was important.
Dr Webber said a lot of the time, rural people, in particularly men, are used to taking care of themselves and can often neglect the necessity of frequent health checks.
She said having a charity such as the RFDS go to events was applaudable, as it was an easy way of delivering health information to people who aren’t always in constant access to health facilities.
Prevention is something the health industry is trying to promote strongly – as well as early detection.
Dr Webber said on a social level, rural people are much more likely to be admitted to hospitals as they don’t have access to preventable care and can’t detect illnesses early.
“We want to invest in prevention,” she said.
On an individual level, Dr Webber said participating in frequent health checks could help detect illnesses early and lessen recovery time significantly.
“It’s much better for you as a person,” she said.
Mrs Cutler said attending rural events such as country shows has become a strategy of the RFDS, simply because it’s a great way to connect with rural people.
The clinics do require assisted funding though.
“As we find the funding we’ll continue to do it,” Mrs Cutler said.
