Brad Melbourne at his Cobram home.
Photo by
Owen Sinclair
It was shaping up to be a fairly standard Wednesday for Cobram man Brad Melbourne.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
But when his in-home dialysis unit malfunctioned last week, Mr Melbourne, who lives with kidney failure, was left in a situation that many will know all too well.
“The only place I could get in [for treatment] was at Wangarattta,” he said.
“I was by myself, and I had no option but to drive there and back.”
It was a risky two-hour commute due to the side-effects of dialysis, which include light-headedness from low blood pressure.
Mr Melbourne said having a dialysis unit in Cobram would be of massive benefit to local patients.
“Let alone the cost factor, you’ve got the comfort factor as well. You don’t want an hour going to treatment, an hour coming home, and the whole day’s gone,” he said.
His story is one of many belonging to those who are forced to travel hours to access the dialysis they need to survive.
Accessing treatment has also been made more difficult for some patients after Ambulance Victoria introduced in September last year stricter eligibility criteria around who could access non-emergency patient transport.
In the short term, Mr Melbourne said he’d like to see some transport for patients who needed to access care outside Cobram.
“There’s plenty of buses not doing anything at 6am in the morning that could sacrifice a little bit of fuel for community goodwill,” he said.
Had there been a unit in Cobram, Mr Melbourne said he wouldn’t have had to risk driving to Wangaratta and back.
“I could’ve just gone straight there. I could’ve called a taxi to the hospital instead of risking driving.”
State Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy has been pushing for a dialysis unit to be installed at the Cobram Hospital for at least the past five years.
Most recently, Mr McCurdy submitted a petition, spearheaded by a local support group, to Victorian parliament in October last year.
The petition garnered at least 1200 signatures, demonstrating support for installing a dialysis unit at the Cobram Hospital.
State Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy is on board with the proposal to get dialysis in Cobram.
Mr McCurdy said people in Cobram, Berrigan, Barooga and even Finlay were travelling to either Yarrawonga, Mooroopna or Shepparton to get dialysis.
“People who don’t have transport, or someone who can take them, are paying either all their pension or three parts of their pension to support them to get the medical services that they should be able to get in Cobram,” Mr McCurdy said.
“What we’d like to see is three dialysis beds or chairs set up in Cobram.”
Mr McCurdy said these wouldn’t incur an extra cost for the Department of Health, but would instead require a redistribution of existing funds allocated to the Cobram Hospital.
Cobram Hospital has been floated as the location of a dialysis unit closer to home.
Photo by
Owen Sinclair
“At the end of the day, it’s not an extra cost. It’s really just spreading the current cost they have,” he said.
He added a dialysis unit wouldn’t only benefit locals.
“There’s a lot of tourists who come through our region,” Mr McCurdy said.
“People book in and have holidays at Yarrawonga because they know there’s a dialysis unit there.
“We can do the same in Cobram. If we had three chairs, two committed to local people, and one for tourists, you’ve hit two birds with one stone. You’ve got dialysis for locals, and you’ve made a destination for people with their caravans and holidaymakers ... who will stay because they can book in for dialysis in our town.”
NCN Health and the Department of Health have been contacted for comment.
39°C