Tassie vets forgotten, says doctor
Veterans hub set up to ‘fill void’
WHEN Tasmania closed its repatriation hospitals in the 1990s, the state lost a wealth of knowledge of veterans’ health needs, a Burnie GP says.
Andrew Clarke, giving evidence before the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide in Hobart on Friday, also said Tasmania was often “forgotten” when national plans for veteran wellbeing were rolled out.
Dr Clarke – who is also a Timor Leste and Bougainville veteran – said the state didn’t have the “critical mass” to run a specialist veterans’ mental health ward, like “ward 17” at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Melbourne.
“It’s about numbers and having a critical mass where we could attract specialists to run a facility like that,” he told the royal commission.
“It’s possible, but I don’t think there’s the mass.”
Dr Clarke said he and a group of veterans on the North-West Coast had established The Veterans Hub to help fill some of the gaps in service delivery to veterans in Tasmania.
He said the service didn’t receive any state government funding, but was about to get $2.5m in seed funding from the federal government.
So far, the service has operated on “Bunnings barbecues, the goodwill of our board members, donations and peppercorn rent provided by the Renew Burnie Project … and the goodwill of some veterans
to keep the door open on a limited basis as a drop-in centre”.
The Veterans Hub is also looking for corporate sponsorship.
Dr Clarke also has been petitioning to secure a mental health bed for veterans in hospital.
Before the pandemic, he had attempted to quarantine a mental health bed at Rivendell Clinic at the North West Private Hospital.
He was also attempting to secure a four-bed crisis facility
in Hobart. “When a veteran is in crisis, often there is little warning, there is little time to act,” Dr Clarke said.
The royal commission will continue its Hobart hearing on Monday.
FOR HELP IN A CRISIS, PLEASE CONTACT: LIFELINE: 24-HOUR SUPPORT LINE: 13 11 14 NIGHTLY TEXT LINE: 0477 131 114 SUICIDE CALL BACK SERVICE: 1300 659 467 (24-HOUR COUNSELLING SERVICE FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH)