Mudgee Health Professional’s Evening

Friday 20, August 2010

Based in country NSW, Health 24-7 knows first hand the pressures on health care facilities, and also understands the vital role that medical practitioners play. In conjunction with Mudgee Health Council, Health 24-7 organises an annual cocktail evening to welcome new health professional’s to our area and encourage them to stay on a more permanent basis.

Held at Vinifera Wines, this year’s welcome event was a huge success with over 70 members of the community attending. Of these, 18 were new health professionals to town. Others attending came from both public and private sectors of the health community including doctors, community health workers including physios, speech pathologists, optometrists, as well as dentists, pharmacists and administrative staff within these organisations.

Local doctor Tony McKendry emphasised the importance of such events in welcoming new members to the community. “We need to keep the focus on the difficulty of securing permanent health professionals in our area and if we can assist them in feeling welcome and hence to stay, we can reduce the constant pressure to recruit further health professionals.”

Overall the night accomplished what it set out to achieve in giving new health professionals the opportunity to build connections with various community groups, helping them to become established in the area.

Heidi Goldsmith, one of the new medical students at South Mudgee Surgery said she was overwhelmed by the generosity of the Mudgee people. “We appreciate greatly the effort spent to welcome us to town and we definitely enjoyed the yummy food, great wine and beautiful location. I can’t speak highly enough of the occasion.”