General News
10 September, 2024
Money isn't the answer to attract people to bush, says local GP
Julia Creek doctor Adam Louws won over mayors and council leaders in Mount Isa last week.
Lifestyle is more important than money for Julia Creek-based GP Adam Louws, who was a big hit with rural leaders at last week’s Western Queensland Alliance of Councils Assembly in Mount Isa.
“For me, it’s a personal thing,” Dr Louws said as part of a panel that was discussing the challenges of healthcare in the bush.
“As a GP I found that I really love sitting down one-on-one with a patient and just getting to know them.”
Dr Louws told the audience of council leaders that it wasn’t until his mother-in-law sent him an article about Julia Creek’s search for a permanent GP that he thought about moving to the Outback.
“I was working on the north side of Brisbane; I had a good job, I bought a house and was feeling quite settled in that area.
“I’d never even heard of Julia Creek – I didn’t know where it was. But there was something that stuck in my head.
“And I was like, what do they have in Julia Creek? What’s there, what do they do? What do they need? What can I find out about these people?
“And let me tell you, you could have told me there are 27 people with diabetes, you could have told me it’s three hours to the nearest hospital with any specialist beyond a GP, you could have told me that the RFDS supplies our retrievals – none of that did it for me.
“What was a big thing for me was learning about the kind of people who live in Julia Creek.
“Julia Creek is a small town about 500 or so people ... a lot of people work on the stations.
“And I have the greatest respect for people who work out in these remote areas. Our health system depends on them. We are, for want of a better phrase, a third-world healthcare system funded to be a first-world healthcare system by our mining and agriculture.
“And so I have the greatest respect for those people who do that work because we depend on it
“And I wanted to do something for those people.”
It was at this stage Dr Louws had the mayors hanging on every word he said. It wouldn’t have been surprising to see one of them try to kidnap him and take him back to their home community.
“You can throw as much money as you want to try and get doctors out here, but it’ll never work,” Dr Louws said.
“It’s about the connection, it’s about the human experience that a person can come out here and feel like they are part of a community.
“When I first arrived in Julia Creek I felt like I’d gone back in time about 60 years – not because things were so rudimentary, because people didn’t have phones or anything, but in the sense that you knew your neighbour, that people would just stop and have a chat.
“My oldest daughter is nine years old, and I would feel comfortable with her riding her bike just about anywhere in town.
“I can’t say that for any part of Brisbane that I know of.
“I’m sure many of your communities are beautiful places with wonderful people.
“And I think that’s what we need to sell.”