Be proud of North’s expertise

WHEN our nearest capital city is Port Moresby it’s hard not to worry about the possibility of having to go to Brisbane should you or a loved one fall ill.

But stories such as today’s amazing tale of recovery provide hope that every day health services, technology and skill are improving in North Queensland.

Seventy- year- old diver Steven Verbiest was told he was a quadriplegic. He faced the possibility of never walking again and limited use of his hands.

But he was fortunate enough to board a special pressurised evacuation plane that brought him to Townsville Hospital emergency department, where speciality care in the hyperbaric medicine unit has allowed him to walk again.

Townsville Hospital was the first public hospital in Queensland to provide a hyperbaric medicine unit and it delivers about 3000 treatments to patients each year.

The first hyperbaric chamber was located at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in 1985, and the hospital was furnished with a new state- of- the- art chamber when it moved to its Douglas campus in 2001.

It was only the second time in 10 years that Dr Chris Jelliffe had used such an aggressive treatment on a patient, but the technique and the result is truly a miracle of modern medicine.

Saturday’s carried a story about the imminent improvement in services for higher- risk heart surgery.

It will mean elderly patients can be treated in Townsville, at either the Townsville or Mater Hospital, rather than travelling to Brisbane.

It will undoubtedly be a welcome addition to local services.

In January this year, the also revealed North Queensland patients would have access to the world’s most advanced cancer treatment machine in a national- first.

This kind of leading service helps make our city a medical hub for Northern Australia and it’s something residents should be proud of.