When he went bush almost 50 years ago clinical care often involved 'battered textbooks and a two-way radio'. Now, as Dr Toby McLeay leaves remote WA, he says telehealth and FIFO consultations can't replace one important factor.
Dr Toby McLeay's love and respect for traditional bush life attracted him to the desert but it was new technology and innovation that allowed him to keep working there for almost 50 years.
He is using telehealth to connect to patients he's been looking after for more than two decades at Wiluna, a remote WA town on the edge of the Western Desert.A "boy scout at heart", Dr McLeay knew from a young age he wanted to live in remote Australia. While working in remote communities, including Utopia, Jigalong in the Pilbara and Wiluna, Dr McLeay went hunting and gathering with local traditional owners.
He describes his first 10 years in the profession as "the wild west" with no phone and complex illnesses to treat. "We might have been pioneers … we started doing flying-in and flying-out 20 years ago," Dr Leay said.
Traditional Owners Retirement Telehealth Indigenous Western Desert Bush Doctor Wa News Remote Health Worker Outback Health Care
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