Demand for service

AHorsham medical clinic originally designed to treat people with respiratory disease continues to treat up to 30 people a day.

The former respiratory clinic, next-door to the long-standing Lister House Medical Clinic in Baillie Street, has transformed into a ‘walkin-and-wait’ clinic where people can seek help for respiratory concerns, including COVID-19, along with ‘low level’ concerns where they cannot make a prompt GP appointment or do not require emergency attention.

Originally developed with Federal Government funding support to respond to the needs of the pandemic, including COVID-19 testing and treatment at no cost, the clinic continues to treat as many patients as when it opened in June 2020. Its funding expired last month. Lister House chief executive Amanda Wilson said the clinic was experiencing rising demand for a fifth dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Anyone 18 and older, who either tested positive to COVID-19 or had their previous vaccine six months ago, is eligible.

The clinic vaccinated almost 35,000 people across the Wimmera during the national vaccination campaign.

“That vaccination program is still ongoing, and there’s been a big uptake again at the moment because people are looking for their fifth dose. People are keen to continue, and should continue to get the doses – get yourself covered for winter, which also includes a flu vaccination,” Mrs Wilson said.

“We know our community needs are still there. We are still seeing 20 to 30 people a day at the clinic, which is what we were doing MID-COVID – and that’s taking pressure off the emergency department.”

She encouraged people who suspected they had COVID-19 to visit the clinic for a PCR test.

“We still want people to know what they’ve got and how to treat it. Some people are still eligible for anti-virals and it could be the difference between them requiring a hospital visit themselves,” she said.

The clinic is open between 9am and noon and people can visit without appointment, though it might require a wait period. Visits may incur a fee, as per the next-door private practice – unless for concession card-holders, who are bulk-billed. COVID-19 vaccination is at no cost.

On standby

The clinic remains on standby to respond quickly, should infection numbers spike again.

Its leadership team continues to apply for government funding to support its initiatives.

In reflecting on the years since the World Health Organisation’s pandemic declaration, on March 11, 2020, Mrs Wilson said the clinic’s management team recognised a need to act quickly and early.

She said an international holiday in early 2020 also drew attention to the urgency of the situation.

The clinic requires a pandemic plan as part of its accreditation process, and was quickly enacted – recognising a need to offer people a safe place to seek help and advice. The respiratory clinic opened in June 2020.

Mrs Wilson recalled the deep fear among the community about the risk and repercussions of the virus.

She said the pandemic was a catalyst for health reform that had increased flexibility regarding the delivery of care and reinforced people-focused options.

Mrs Wilson was integral in the establishment of a regional taskforce, which brought together health, emergency service, community and other stakeholders to respond to everchanging advice. The support helpline 1800 195 114, through Uniting Wimmera, remains in operation.

“We were quite unique in how we could – and how we did – work together. In a bigger city, it wouldn’t work quite like we did,” she said.

“The community looked after people incredibly well – whether it was dropping food at their door or advice on paying a bill when the post office was shut, through to information about COVID. I think about 85 percent of the time, people were well looked after in their community by their friends or family or neighbours – but the Uniting number was there if and when they needed it.”

Public health specialist Dr Rob Grenfell, of Grampians Health, said vaccinations ‘changed the course’ of the pandemic, after COVID-19 was initially demonstrating an ‘extreme risk’ for widespread deaths.

People continue to test positive to the virus and about five lives are lost to COVID-19, daily, across Victoria.

Dr Grenfell warned there was a ‘5050 bet, each way’ that a new variant would emerge and pose another ‘significant challenge’ globally.