RFDS staff celebrated this week at the 2024 National Rural and Remote Health Awards in Canberra, alongside Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC, Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia and with around 180 rural health professionals and distinguished guests from across Australia.
Held as part of Rural Health Pro’s Rural Health Month, the awards recognise the exceptional health professionals and organisations committed to improving the health and wellbeing of rural and remote Australians.
The RFDS was proud to be named a finalist in four categories, with Dr Vaibhav Garg, Senior Dentist in SA/NT, taking out the individual honour of Rural/ Remote Health Professional of the Year and the Royal Flying Doctor Service South Eastern Section being awarded the Rural/ Remote Health Employer of the Year for their role in saving from certain closure the only community General Practices in the North-Western NSW towns of Warren, Gilgandra and Condobolin.
RFDSSE Executive General Manager Health Services Development, Jenny Beach, said it was an honour for the organisation to be recognised as a finalist and credits the passion and dedication of all the RFDSSE Medical Services teams involved who worked so hard to bring about positive change in these places. Across the three communities, we now support over 12,000 people who might otherwise have to travel hours for even a simple check-up. Of course, the Flying Doctor does nothing in isolation, and we would like to acknowledge the PHN, LHD, outgoing organisations, local Councils and communities, partner organisations and Rural Doctors Network (RDN) for their invaluable support.
Meanwhile, Dr Garg had led the establishment of a successful oral health service, now with 20 team members, serving remote communities in South Australia and the Northern Territory and with a mantra that asks “Is there a reason why we can’t provide the level of care in a remote location when it can be provided in private practice in a city?”. He is passionate about continued investment in culturally safe and competent health care and in the past 12 months has both partnered with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress to pioneer a community-led assessment using the Menzies Health System Assessment Tool to map future cultural safety improvements for the program and with Purple House to introduce an oral health service for patients from remote communities accessing dialysis in Alice Springs.
The RFDS was also a finalist for the Rural/ Remote Advocate of the Year Awards for its Best for the Bush report series that brings the latest data on the health of rural and remote Australians alongside RFDS data and evidence on service gaps, to identify the issues most urgently needing attention from service providers, funders and policy makers.
The RFDS was also a finalist in the Rural/ Remote Health Innovator of the Year category for the Virtual Emergency Centre (VEC) within the South Australian new William Creek Community Health Centre. This Australian-first approach to emergency response in remote locations where health professionals are not physically present incorporates satellite connectivity, telehealth, diagnostic equipment and hospital-grade pharmaceutical access by laypersons under the remote virtual advice of an 24/7 on-call RFDS Doctor to deliver environmentally responsible emergency care.
The RFDS is proud to serve rural and remote Australians and for these award nominations. We congratulate all the award winners and thank Rural HealthPro for administering the National Rural and Remote Health Awards.
