Deakin, Alcoa mark 10 years of support for rural emergency medicine

Deakin's Centre for Rural Emergency Medicine this week celebrates 10 years of partnership with Alcoa of Australia, whose support has enabled the centre to improve the coordination and delivery of emergency medical services in south-west Victoria.

The Warrnambool-based centre was officially opened in 2009 as the first of its kind in rural Australia, providing clinical leadership while undertaking research and training in emergency services in rural and regional settings.

The centre is the result of a joint partnership between the Deakin School of Medicine, Alcoa, the Victorian Government, Portland District Health, and South West Healthcare (Warrnambool).

Centre Director Associate Professor Tim Baker, who is also an emergency physician, welcomed representatives on Thursday 21 March from the centre's joint partnership together with the local alumni community at Deakin’s Warrnambool Campus for a special event recognising the decade-long collaboration.

Associate Professor Baker said it was vital that organisations and governments continued to support rural centres of excellence in what has become 'a geographically narcissistic world'.

'One of the goals of our centre has always been to provide a model of development and delivery of emergency medical care for other Australian regional and rural health services, to address the ‘geographical narcissism’ that often negatively affects rural health services,' he said.

'We know that one third of all Australians – approximately 7 million people – who live in regional, rural and remote areas experience more difficulty accessing health services than their city cousins.

'They also have to deal with longer distances to travel to receive care, less access to preventative and screening services, higher rates of potentially avoidable hospital admissions, and more rural hospital closures and downgrades.

'Thanks to Alcoa's support, the Centre for Rural Emergency Medicine has been able to directly tackle these problems, working with local emergency departments, researchers and other stakeholders to provide rural Australians with the medical services they deserve.'

Associate Professor Baker said the centre took a multi-disciplinary approach to developing rural emergency medicine, focusing on clinical practice, education, research, and community engagement.

'In order for rural organisations to move from irrelevance to excellence, we have to raise community understanding and address the lack of research when it comes to rural emergency medicine, as well as provide training for medical staff, practitioners and GPs to help them stay abreast of new emergency medicine principles and techniques,' he said.

Alcoa Alumina Global Medical Director Dr Michael Donoghue congratulated Associate Professor Baker and the centre team on their successful 10-year partnership.

'Alcoa's partnership with the Centre for Rural Emergency Medicine has produced tangible outcomes for regional communities, including Portland where many of our employees live and work, and it has been a pleasure to see the centre mature under Tim's leadership,' Dr Donoghue said.

'The primary objective from Alcoa's perspective – strengthening of the regional community emergency medicine capability – has been achieved, and the partnership has produced excellent teaching and research development, which will help consolidate rural and remote medical services in Victoria and further afield.'

'A special benefit for Alcoa has been the centre's development and delivery of the General Rural Industrial Medical Emergency course, which was tailored for our mine, refinery and smelter-based occupational physicians, who may occasionally be called on to respond to medical emergencies. This course has been run twice already and will be run again this year.'

Find out more about the Centre for Rural Emergency Medicine