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The Heart of Australia TEXT
Julica Jungehülsing
The risk of a dying of a heart disorder is nearly twice as high in Australia’s remote regions as in its major metropolitan areas. The main reason: diagnosis and treatment are far away. Medical supplies in semis might change this. “We can’t simply ignore this imbalance,” says Dr. Rolf Gomes. “We need to fix the supply chain, because we can.” The Brisbane-based cardiologist is not one to make demands and whine; this is a man who solves problems. During his medical residencies, he spent a great deal of time travelling in rural areas like Queensland, a state four times the size of Germany and Austria combined – inhabited by a mere five million people. Every day he witnessed how physicians were forced to work with limited means. While he ultimately settled in the state capital of Brisbane, he never forgot those people in the outback. He would look around his office, taking in the treadmills, ultrasound units and cardiac rhythm monitors. And he would ask himself: “Why can’t all this equipment be packed into a vehicle and brought to the people who urgently need it?” A quite simple idea in theory, but an expensive, ambitious undertaking in practice. For five years, Gomes planned and fought; he sought and found partners and sponsors. He created a mobile clinic on paper and convinced colleagues to join the effort. Finally, he put his plan into action. Since 2014, the “Heart of Australia” has been traveling thousands of kilometers, transporting medical personnel and equipment across the state that is home to the Great Barrier Reef in the east and rainforests in the north. His initial semitrailer sporting the license plate “Heart1” has long been joined by others of its kind. In February, the fifth mobile clinic took to the roads. “We no longer serve five locations like in the beginning. Now our semi stops at 32 stations located along three fixed routes,” says Dr. Gomes. “In the meantime, our 23 medical professionals have treated more than 11,000 people and saved at least 500 lives.” The big trucks are flanked by a smaller one that is deployed in emergencies. The
physicians and ultrasound specialists fly or drive to their assigned locations for shifts lasting several days; then they are replaced by a new team. “When you dream up a project like this, you can’t really be sure it will work,” Gomes says in retrospect. “But today the team and I are very proud of what we’ve accomplished.” And the population’s gratitude knows no end. Deluge instead of Day Clinic The stretch from Dalby to Stanthorpe is 260 kilometers long. A modern semi can cover this distance in a good three hours – or even faster if it’s the “Heart 2,” a Kenworth K200 that tows its 44-ton, 25-meter-long diagnostics clinic through fields and forests. This morning, however, the 34 wheels of this mobile medical marvel aren’t turning. Within a scant 24 hours, some 300 millimeters of rain have drenched Dalby and its environs. Rivers have risen over their banks, rural roads and highways are flooded. Instead of echocardiograms, pulse rates and ultrasound images, the “Heart of Australia” team is checking water levels and weather forecasts. Maria Abrigado is in charge of logistics: she is now rescheduling appointments, cancelling accommodations, phoning with emergency personnel and road services. “We physicians usually find a solution; if necessary, we fly to the locations to see patients,” says Dr. Alexander Dashwood in Brisbane. “I’m from England, I know my way around rain. But I’ve never seen the likes of what’s bucketing down from the sky out there.” If the truck can’t traverse the flooded areas, flying in a cardiologist doesn’t make sense. Luckily, this happens very rarely, under extreme weather conditions: such as this year’s very wet La Niña summer in the southwest, or if there are cyclones or forest fires. Even under such circumstances, the drivers are often able to find a detour – like Ben Williams, who has circum vented the worst in “Heart 2.” Just one day late, the team has arrived in the 5,000-soul hamlet of Stanthorpe for day two of planned diagnostic work.
