It’s been an exciting time for Heart of Australia as we recently celebrated our 10-year Anniversary at the annual Gala, where Heart of Australia Founder Dr Rolf Gomes made a significant announcement about the future of the organisation.
From 2025, Heart of Australia will be expanding our services to every state in Australia and the Northern Territory, after being selected by the Australian Government to be the mobile delivery partner for the National Lung Cancer Screening Program (NLCSP) in rural and remote communities nationwide.
Lung cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer death in our country, so an increase in screening will mean earlier detection and better health outcomes for patients. To learn more about the NLCSP, click here.
What does this mean for Heart of Australia?
The expansion will see an additional five trucks hit the bitumen over the next two years, joining the existing Heart of Australia fleet to provide mobile lung screening services to people living in rural and remote communities.
The current fleet of six Heart Trucks operating in Queensland are custom-designed, mobile health clinics capable of delivering specialist services to the doorsteps of rural, remote, and First Nations communities.
The new Heart Trucks will be modelled on HEART 5, the world’s first battery-powered mobile CT truck, which has delivered comprehensive respiratory health checks and radiology services throughout Queensland since 2022. Each new truck be fitted with these mobile CT scanners and radiology diagnostics onboard to deliver the screening service. This allows Heart of Australia to deliver a CT scan anywhere at any time, as part of the NLCSP.
Dr Gomes said the expansion would transform Heart of Australia into a program of national significance.
“Being able to expand our existing services with mobile radiology brings us one step closer to delivering a hospital on wheels to far flung communities,” Dr Gomes said.
“Thank you to all of the patients, GPs, corporate partners and supporters whose ongoing commitment and contribution has been a lifeline in helping us break down the tyranny of distance between the city and the bush.”
After the new trucks join the fleet, there will be a total of 11 trucks providing specialist services, including lung cancer screening, preventative and occupational health screening, clinical trials and education for healthcare professionals and medical students.
Heart of Australia program statistics since 2014:
A big thank you again to everyone who attended our 10th Anniversary Gala. It was a special evening celebrating a decade of growth, partnership and patient care delivery across Queensland.
During his keynote speech on the night, Dr Gomes reflected on the journey of Heart of Australia since 2014.
“Over the past decade our trucks have travelled more than a million kilometres in Queensland, bringing critical healthcare to nearly 20,000 patients, and saving more than 800 lives”, Dr Gomes said.
“We’ve saved patients a culminative 38 million kilometres in travel for specialist appointments, and this national expansion is testament to the success of our model and the undeniable value of delivering specialist healthcare in rural and remote Australia.”
“Thank you to everyone for your support for the past 10 years. We look forward to sharing the next exciting chapter for Heart of Australia with you.”
The routes for the new trucks are yet to be determined. The first truck, HEART 7, is expected to be on the road by September 2025.
