Dr Christopher Cameron, or Dr CC to his patients, is not the usual GP. In fact, if you mention this to Dr CC, he will be relieved to hear this as he has created an Outreach Doctors service aimed at making access to medical services (GP & Nurse) non judgmental, comfortable, without anxiety & physically accessible. Many of Dr CC’s patients currently or previously had difficulty accessing transport, financial burdens, as well as encountered institutional barriers to accessing health care. Outreach Doctors was founded to ensure equity of access to health care services. The concept was formed around the idea of seeing patients where they are most comfortable. This is in a variety of settings and not limited to the home, the park, community centres, around a camp fire under the stars, or from our Outreach Doctors Hub in Pialba. It is all about where the client is comfortable to receive treatment, comfortable to speak and share, open for assistance. Dr CC operates his Outreach Doctors Hub from Pialba with extended opening hours (open to 8pm every Thursday) to further accommodate the overwhelming number of community members benefiting from this service.
The realised gap in medical services, provided to the community in an outreach setting, is proven to be in great demand. All of our services have been responded to with positivity from both clients and community organisations. The greatest sense of contribution to the community is demonstrated when a patient, who previously were hesitant or unable to access medical professional services, are now being treated for the very first time. As the word spreads, the community accesses tThe realised gap in medical services, provided to the community in an outreach setting, is proven to be in great demand.
All of our services have been responded to with positivity from both clients and community organisations. The greatest sense of contribution to the community is demonstrated when a patient, who previously were hesitant or unable to access medical professional services, are now being treated for the very first time. As the word spreads, the community accesses the Outreach service for a variety of reasons including lack of transport, non-judgemental welcoming space as well as language and cultural barriers.
Outreach Doctors strongly believe in patient advocacy, building and maintaining trust and fostering long term relationships. In addition, the Outreach model provided the opportunity for secondary medical gains including observing intra and inter-family dynamics rather than calling individual patients from a clinic waiting room setting. Outreach Doctors is more than a health care service, it is a dynamic and vibrant community development project.
