Healthy system

IT was a perfect day, the sun was shining and the snow was crisp.

Today we were back country riding on snowmobiles, with breathtaking views of the mountain.

The panoramic grandeur and natural beauty left me speechless.

I felt so lucky to be in such a wonderful place on this perfect day. Absorbed in the beauty I dropped back, everyone was now way ahead of me.

I was enjoying the tranquillity of solitude when I suddenly saw two snow mobiles.

I veered to the left, but so did they, it was US not Australia, I was on the wrong side of the track.

We crashed into each other head on, it seemed everything was in slow motion, I felt my body rise out of the seat, our heads collided, I remember thinking I am so glad I have a helmet. As I deflected back into the seat the sound of the engines subsided into a hum.

I was speechless, I was in pain, I was in tears.

The events that followed seem somewhat a blur.

I was taken to the hospital, it was busy, this perfect day had lured many such as me on to the mountain slopes.

The injured were everywhere. I remember looking at the emergency department corridor, they said there were no cubicles, they were all full.

All I wanted was for them to take the pain away . . . but they did not. Not until I paid in advance.

What sort of cruel world is this, I thought, I need pain relief and you are asking for payment in advance, “cash or credit card”.

I could not move my arm, I asked the “cashier” to open my ski jacket pocket and find my credit card, and I prayed that it had enough on it to satisfy this hospital.

My credit card satisfied the cashier, I was now a human deserving of medical attention. I hate to imagine if my card had been rejected or worse still if I did not have a card.

As the pain relief kicked in, I reflected how lucky we were living in Australia, where medical treatment is free for all.

In a study of 11 different national health care models, researchers at the New Yorkbased Commonwealth Fund ranked Australia’s healthcare system among the best in the developed world while it ranked its own country’s system the worst.

The US has the highest rate of mortality amenable to health care and over the past decade it has experienced the lowest reduction in that measure.

The US performs poorly on population health outcomes because its health system does not reach the entire population, only those who can afford to pay.

At Barwon Health, we treat everyone irrespective of their bank balance. Every person who comes through our doors receives the treatment they require.

We truly practise the Hippocratic oath — written almost 2500 years ago, an oath

sworn by medical students at their graduation, that they will uphold specific medical standards.

While a public hospital is funded to provide treatment to eligible Australians, over the past 12 months Barwon Health has also provided medical treatment to a number of overseas families who have entered our doors after having found themselves sick and without medical insurance while travelling to Australia.

I recall a recent patient who walked through our doors, he was only in his 30s, no English and with acute leukaemia.

Our conversation regarding his treatment was simple, “give him the same treatment as we would to anyone one else, give him everything he needs, we will sort out the payments later”. To give him any less is not human.

The Barwon Health spirit of giving extends beyond our borders.

While foreign aid is provided by our government, Barwon Health clinicians are actively involved in a wide variety of volunteer work overseas.

The generosity of our staff extends to travelling at their own cost to provide clinics and treatment in Fiji, Vanuatu and East Timor, to name a few programs.

They give their time to attend clinics and provide support to the many patients requiring their help.

Australia is truly the Lucky Country, I cannot imagine living anywhere else.