Paccar donates K200 to haul trailer fitted with medical equipment.
Vehicle manufacturer Paccar is pitching in to help the Heart of Australia project, which aims to provide cardiac health services to Queensland’s remote communities.
Paccar has agreed to supply a K200 prime mover to tow a trailer equipped with the latest medical equipment, allowing Heart of Australia to provide a mobile medical service.
Queensland cardiologist Dr Rolf Gomes, who started Heart of Australia, says people living in remote areas have a far higher rate of hospitalisation and death resulting from cardiovascular disease.
“The key problem is that so many of these communities do not have specialist cardiac health services,” Gomes says.
“That’s the reason I founded Heart of Australia – to give people in the bush access to the same services the rest of Australia takes for granted.”
The mobile unit will be based in the Queensland regional centre of Dalby. The truck and trailer are expected to travel 72,000km over a 12-month period and will cover a territory of 450,000 sq km.
Onboard will be a nurse, a consulting cardiologist and a sonographer. Other specialists and support staff will fly into towns and join the mobile clinic when required.
“We are delighted to be contributing to this unique initiative, and we’re looking forward to the possibility of a longer-term relationship. Heart of Australia is an important medical resource which will improve life in many communities and, no doubt, save lives as well,” Paccar Australia managing director Mike Dozier says.
“The mobile health clinic will be visiting a number of rural mining and agricultural areas which rely heavily on road-based transport.”