Your Community Newspaper Thursday, July 31, 2003
Established 2003
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Age of ‘Dinosaurs’ Ends in Roxby ROXBY DOWNS... Roxby Downs residents expecting to see a familiar face when they walk through the doors of Roxby Downs Medical Practice next week may be greatly surprised. The practice is expected to be handed over next week to a new team if negotiations are successful this week. Practice staff, including Dr Robert Armstrong, were informed this week that their jobs would no longer be available to them when new owner Dr Devinder Singh Grewal of Port Augusta takes over. Dr Michael Coward has already left the practice this week after five years of caring for the local community. But while his departure was planned, Dr Armstrong’s comes as a shock. “When patients asked me, in the past few months, whether I was also leaving and I replied ‘no’ – that was the absolute truth at that stage,” Dr Armstrong said. “I, in fact, was required to work for the practice owner Dr Wauchope until the middle of next year in term’s of my immigration sponsorship arrangement. “With the imminent sale of the practice – and the expected change of ownership next week – this has all changed because the new owner has elected not to take over any of the current staff, be they administrative or medical. “I’d just like to say to all of those patients with whom I’ve had a satisfying, professional relationship, how sorry I am that this has been sprung on them at short notice. My biggest concern at the moment is for continuity of patient care and that the community be informed as to the circumstances of the abrupt change of practice ownership.” Up until this week, both local doctors performed around 10,000 patient consultations every year. A regular day for Dr Coward and fellow GP Robert Armstrong meant as much as 96 hours every week, being on 24-hour call on alternating days, taking patient consultations from 8am every weekday morning and rarely leaving the surgery before 7pm. “After five years here, I don’t think I have anything
“Rob and I are dinosaurs and when we go there will be no one like us to replace us.” Dr Michael Coward left to offer the local community - it’s time to move on,” Dr Coward said. “Rob and I are dinosaurs and when we go there will be no one like us to replace us - no one who will be prepared to work the hours, or extend the service, with the post-graduate experience we have. “People have been burying their heads in the sand for five years but there’s a 1400 rural GP shortage in Australia and that’s about to hit Roxby Downs hard.” Dr Coward and wife Jane will move to Christmas Island next month, working for the Indian Ocean Health Services. After helping to establish Roxby Downs Medical Practice as one of the most technologically-advanced rural practices in the country, Dr Coward will now be establishing health systems linking a series of islands across 900km of Indian Ocean. “There will be a lot of challenges, but then, we’ve dealt with all sorts of challenges right here in Roxby,” he said. “There was nothing set up here when we arrived but we’ve put together an efficient, functioning, 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week service. “Everything here is fully computerised, from the appointments down to the doctor’s notes, so all patient information can be recalled at the touch of a button without wading through piles of paper. In fact, this would be one of the most computerised
PRACTICE SHAKE-UP...The planned departure of Dr Michael Coward from Roxby Downs Medical Practice has escalated this week into a complete turn-over of staff and the hand-over to a new medical team. practices in Australia.” However, the practice’s new management team intends to replace the current clerical system, according to Drs Coward and Armstrong. And while the new practice is being established and Dr Coward is sailing between islands in the Indian Ocean - Dr Armstrong will be taking a well-deserved rest locally. “I’ve spoken so glowingly about the town and the community that my brother and my father will both be visiting in the next few weeks,” he said. “My family and I don’t intend to move anywhere until the end of the school term. I’ve enjoyed working here enormously and my family has become part of the local community, my kids have enjoyed going to local schools, and Michael and I have had a good working relationship.” According to Drs Coward and Armstrong Roxby Downs Medical Practice caters to a larger proportion of families than most Australian communities, and also deals with daily incidents associated with a major industrial centre. The practice was originally owned by the Adelaide University and the University of SA, in co-operation with a private group. The practice is now expected to hand over to Dr Devinder Singh Grewall next week. “I’ve been around this district for 32 years, based in Pt Augusta and the Flinders Region,” Dr Grewal told The Monitor this week. “We are acutely aware of the best interests of the community up there and the requirements of the Roxby Downs region and there’s a lot of people I know in Roxby Downs. A lot of babies I have delivered are now young men and women living and working up there.” Dr Grewal said he considered himself a ‘local’ to the region and looked forward to working with the Roxby Downs community to best meet local needs.
THE MONITOR - Your Community Newspaper
QUEENS OF THE TITANIC...Oasis Restaurant staff Misty Gale and Kate Thomson vamp it up for the Titanic theme night.
Titanic Resurfaces at Oasis The Oasis Restaurant hosted a Titanic ‘theme dinner’ on Saturday, July 19, which was attended by more than 80 people. Costumes, props, live entertainers in white tuxedos and the restaurant’s very own iceberg leant a antique flair to the evening. “We were impressed by how many people dressed up for the occasion,” restaurant manager Kate Thomson said. “It was a really good night and we’re looking at having theme nights regularly – so keep an eye out for our next one in October.” Turn to Page 13 for more Titanic photos...
Thursday, July 31, 2003 - Page 1