World class public health

THERE’S a saying that you make your own luck.

When you think of Australia being the lucky country, you might initially think of our spectacular environment, the availability of land and natural resources or our distance from major conflict.

But, when you think a little more deeply, you realise there are other things for which we should be extremely grateful which we have made by our own hand.

One of those is our public health system.

You do not have to travel the globe to appreciate that we are blessed with a health system, which provides world-class care for patients by the hundreds of thousands every year.

Barwon Health was yesterday hailed for its contribution to the system. And the figures on patient care are staggering.

But before you look at the numbers, remember that each number represents someone in need and that each patient is being attended by a talented array of medicos, technicians and associated staff.

The Geelong Hospital admitted 17,937 patients in the three months to the end of June, 2012, including 7693 admissions through the emergency department.

During the period, 14,941 people presented to the emergency department.

The hospital also admitted 122 babies to the neonatal intensive/ special-care nursery.

And, quarterly statistics aside, the Intensive Care Unit provides an average of 300 hours of care every day.

This all goes on – day in, day out – without undue fanfare.

The reality is that, as we go about our daily business, we often don’t care much about what goes on inside the sprawling Ryrie St building – until an emergency strikes our world.

When it’s your child having a fractured arm put in plaster, or your parent having cardiac surgery, or your friend being treated for cancer, that’s when you appreciate the public health system.

And that’s when you know how extremely lucky we are.