Ochre Health celebrates 10 years

Congratulations to Ochre Medical Centre on its 10th anniversary!

Ochre’s facility at 2-6 Etheridge St, Eumundi opened following a long and spirited community response led by Eumundi Combined Community Organisation (ECCO). The circumstances were challenging in that the existing community medical centre closed with almost no notice in 2010.

While ECCO leaders had little practical knowledge to re-establish a medical centre, they were very mindful of the calamity facing Eumundi. The strength of the community spirit, the availability of a modest capital from carparking income and enthusiasm and hours of volunteer work came together allowing ECCO to purchase the necessities from the closed business and engage health professionals to restart a small service. This modest centre was always regarded as a make-shift temporary vital community service. Temporary turned out to be four years of development underpinned by heavy volunteering loads, risk management trials and tribulations and the repayment of capital expenditure to ECCO.

There was a great sigh of relief locally when Ochre agreed to set up a purpose-built centre as part of the Commonwealth Government GP Super Clinic program in the area occupied by a closed business, Cocoa Chocolat.

Ochre’s 10 years of service have been characterised by outstanding service from seven independent doctors and their support team. The medical centre also provides additional care through an assortment of allied health services including pathology, psychology, cardiology and a dietitian. Across Australia Ochre has now grown to 70 centres.

All of the original GPs – Dr David Heppell, Dr Karen Macmillan and Dr Hoda Morris – still operate from the medical centre and patients come to see them from as far away as Gympie, Tin

Can Bay and even Brisbane. Popular receptionist Mel Haigh also joined the centre a decade ago. During Covid, flu and pandemic clinics were run at the local football ground. The Ochre team communicated on walkie-talkies to move patients who stayed in their cars through different checkpoints to be admitted, triaged and given their shots.

Ochre supports delivery of around 30,000 patient consultations a year and with recent population growth the practice has been growing rapidly, currently averaging 25-30 new patients per week.