Heart of Australia is set to expand its services, supporting the respiratory health of mine workers and providing mobile medical imaging including X-ray and CT services to rural and remote Queenslanders as part of a new partnership with the Queensland Government.
The partnership will see a new, custom-built, B-Double mobile clinic with the capacity to provide medical imaging including X-ray and CT scanning added to the growing Heart of Australia fleet.
The new expanded services will provide significant advancements in terms of access to health screening and diagnostic services for individuals and families throughout rural and remote communities. This includes the provision of health assessments to current and former mine and quarry workers to facilitate early detection of mine dust lung diseases like black lung and silicosis.
Heart of Australia’s Founder and Cardiologist, Dr Rolf Gomes, said there was a clear need for locally accessible medical imaging services in rural and regional communities, and that the new mobile clinic will take digital imaging staff and the state-of-the-art equipment they require to the communities where they are needed.
“Ultimately in medicine, you can only treat the problems you can find, and access to medical imaging plays a critical role in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. As a simple example if you have a cough which just won’t go away, then you may need a CT scan of your chest because if you do happen to have a cancer, you want to know about it when it’s the size of a pea, not a tennis ball,” Dr Gomes said.
“Providing rural patient’s access to locally delivered medical imaging services will make an enormous difference and save lives.”
“We are thrilled to be working in partnership with the Queensland Government. The expansion to mobile medical imaging, especially mobile CT scans is a step-change evolution in the services we currently deliver. It acknowledges the vital role medical imaging plays in the practice of modern medicine and brings us closer to equitable access to healthcare for all Australians regardless of postcode.”
Dr Gomes would like to take this opportunity to additionally acknowledge all of Heart of Australia’s partners, including its Foundation Partner, Arrow Energy, who have been instrumental in the organisation’s development, allowing it to operate, innovate and rise to the challenge of this exciting new milestone.
