By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on December 16, 2017
ALBANY senior medical practitioner Brendan Carson has made it his ambition to give regional patients the same health care as metropolitan citizens and create a closer connection between the Albany Health Campus and the wider community.
His new book, Heartline, was written with the goal of using the profits to purchase two or three portable cardiac monitors, which cost approximately $2400 each.
This would enable wards other than the high dependency unit to use the technology and allow more efficient care of patients.
Dr Carson practices general medicine and works in the medical, surgical and high dependency wards at the Albany Health Campus, and his experiences from his career form the basis of his new book.
“The book is basically a memoir of a few of the things that happened in my first few years of medicine,” he said.
“At the time, I was working in another state, and I worked a variety of jobs – public methadone clinic, emergency and psychiatric wards, one of the “street kids” clinics.
“I’m fascinated by people and their stories, and I’ve met a lot of amazing people, and a lot of this is just me listening to their stories.”
Dr Carson knows that not all health care technology and expertise is currently available in regional areas, but wants to continue to do more to increase the welfare of all regional patients.
“I want people in the bush to have the same health outcomes and the same chances as people in the city,” he said.
“Now, some of that is not doable yet.
“If you have a heart attack on Hay Street, you’re minutes away from one of the most well-resourced hospitals in Australia.
“If you have one while you’re harvesting, it’s a very different story.
“But there is some stuff we can do.
“We’ve done some of it – there’s an MRI down the corridor, telemedicine means we’ve got some serious expertise we can draw upon – and I want us to do more.
“People who live here should have every chance.”
Heartline is now on sale for $15 and is available for purchase at the Albany Health Campus, The Weekender office, Bay Merchants, the Albany Entertainment Centre and Paperbark Merchants.
