Heart of Australia Deborah Guion on a new CT clinic touring NT

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know a new mobile CT clinic is touring

(00:03):
the Northern Territory to ensure those most at risk of
lung cancer are not being missed. Now the life saving
mobile clinic called Hearsh I think it's called Heart eight
from Heart of Australia. It's going to be traveling vast distances,
sometimes by barge to provide needed screening in the ententies
rural and remote communities. Now joining me on the line

(00:26):
live from Man and Greta to tell us more is
Deb Gion. She's the head of stakeholder and Community Engagement
with Heart of Australia.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good morning, Deb, good morning, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
It is lovely to have you on the show. Deb
tell us a little bit more about this new mobile
CT clinic.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
We're absolutely thrilled to have launched in the Northern Territory.
Our trucks started as patiology clinics in Queensland. We've been
in Queensland for thirteen years. Our founders a cardiologist and
he really saw a need to take healthcare to the
bush to try and reduce the amount of travel that
people living in rural and remote communities are required to

(01:08):
take when they need to see a specialist. So he
built the first truck for cardiology and that's expanded to
include respiratory and obviously CT. So our trucks are equipped
with battery powered CT. They're the only ones in the world.
We have three of them and one of them is
here today in Managrita providing CT for the National Lung

(01:30):
Cancer Screening Program.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
What a fantastic initiative is? Tell me you know who
can go and be seen? Like, is it a situation
where you roll into town and anybody can rock up
or what's the go?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah? Sure, So the National Lung Cancer Screening Program is
for people who are aged fifty to seventy years old
with a significant smoking history, and so a new one
who fits that criteria should have a conversation with their
GP or health practitioner. They do need a referral for
the program and that will be sent to Heart of
Australia if we're visiting that community, and will provide a

(02:10):
free CT when the truck rolls into town.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Now, what kind of locations are you traveling to? I
know you're a man and Greta at the moment, but
where else are you off to? In the Northern.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Territory, So we have twenty two locations across the NT
that have been selected. So we've worked very closely with
the Commonwealth, with Empty Health and with Amstandt to determine
the locations that we will go to. And then we've
worked very closely with the local healthcare providers to help
them be ready for the service to arrive as well

(02:40):
make sure that we're promoting the service in a culturally
appropriate way. Those twenty two communities across the in Fire Territory,
we've really looked at the rates of lung cancer, mortality
from lung cancer and the distance to the nearest CT
to select those communities and they range from Mudijulu and

(03:02):
Yolara to Yuendumu in Central Australia. We're going to borrow
Lula Nooka Kakerindi in Big Rivers and we're currently on
a three months barge route across Arnhem Land down to
Group Island, up to Tiwi Islands and around to what
are how good like?

Speaker 1 (03:23):
I just think it's fantastic because I would imagine that
in some locations. I mean, we know that in a
lot of our remote communities we've got fantastic health clinics
out there. But you know, in some instances if somebody
needs to see somebody for a CT scan or to
have these scans, that unless they're coming into Darwin, they

(03:43):
may not you know, like it may be quite difficult
for them to do.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
So, oh, it absolutely is. And there's four locations in
the Northern Territory where there are cteople. So for most
people it is a significant amount of travel to have
a CT And the reality of this program is that
it is a cancer screening program. So it's the people
who are asymptomatic who have not got evidence of lung cancer.

(04:09):
So we know that asking someone to travel from a
remote community to the city for a CT when they're asymptomatic,
it's likely not going to happen. So that's why the
Commonwealth has partnered with part of Australia to bringing the
truck to these remote communities so that people can access
the program in their own community or close to it.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
And on the i'll call it a tour. On the
tour you've done so far, have you had a lot
of people are rocking up keen to see you.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
We've been really pleasantly surprised by the number of people
that have come to the truck and in reality, you know,
we're working with predominantly Aboriginal communities. We're a new service
to the Northern Territory and it's a new program, so
we know that it will take time. So hence we've
worked very closely with the local services to develop a

(04:59):
culturally safe program. But we have also anticipated that it
will take time to build attendance for all eligible participants.
But we've been really pleasantly surprised. So often the first
morning is it will bit quiet, and then people start
hearing about it. Someone's been through had the CET. It

(05:20):
only takes five minutes for the actual ct so it's
a really quick process and then they tell their community
members and it starts, you know, then we start seeing
a lot more people. So the turnout so far has
been great and we're looking forward to getting back to
the communities that we've so each of the each of

(05:40):
the visits is two or three days and we intend
to visit most communities two or three times a year.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Oh, that is really good to hear. Debra Gillon, the
head of Stakeholder and Community Engagement with Heart of Australia.
It's really good to speak with you this morning. I
appreciate your time.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Thank you, thanks so much.