A Pop Up Care Clinic will operate in Agnes Water over the long weekend in a bid to reduce pressure on local emergency services and nearby hospital emergency departments.
IMPACT Community Health Service (ICHS) will operate the pop up clinic from their health precinct at Rafting Ground Road, with Dr Dani Buchanan and Nurses Pamela Mackie and Kirstin James, to treat non-life threatening medical emergencies.
ICHS Practice Manager Pamela Mackie said the Pop Up Care Clinic would provide Discovery Coast residents and visitors access to health care services without a 3-hour round trip to Gladstone or Bundaberg over the Easter period, 7 to 10 April inclusive.
“Residents and visitors to our beautiful region will be able to seek treatment for issues such as possible sprains or broken bones, cuts requiring stitches, minor ear or eye problems, burns and scalds and minor illnesses such as fever, infections and rashes,” she said.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to provide health care in our community during peak holiday period and public holidays when our GPs are closed.”
Ms Mackie stressed that the Pop Up Care Clinic would not be equipped to provide care for life threatening emergencies, and if life is in danger 000 should always be called without delay.
Those needing medical assistance will be able to drop into the pop up clinic without an appointment, and all services provided will be fully rebateable to Medicare card holders. Patients will be prioritised according to the urgency of their injury or illness. The clinic has been co-designed with input from the Country to Coast QLD (CCQ) PHN, local GPs, Queensland Ambulance Service, the community and Rotary, who have donated a portable ultrasound for use not only in the pop up clinic but also for locally based practitioners.
Dr Buchanan said that he was pleased to return to the community. “This pop up clinic will provide vital access to urgent care for our community, and whilst this is a one off clinic I am hopeful that we can deliver services such as this in the future.”
The ICHS Pop Up Care Clinic will operate at the IMPACT Community Health Precinct at 2 Rafting Ground Road, Agnes Water between 9am and 5pm.
You can read more about the ICHS Pop Up Care Clinic at https://impact.org.au/ichs-pop-up-urgent-care-clinic/