Mannum’s medical services are secure at new clinic
Mannum Medical Clinic has reopened at a new site on Adelaide Road.
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Mannum patients should benefit from local health care for many years to come, hope the owners of a $4 million medical centre which opened in the town this week.
Mannum Medical Clinic had previously been based at the local hospital.
But tensions arose between its owners and SA Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, when restrictions at the hospital made it more of a challenge for the medical centre to serve the community.
Mannum is not the only Murraylands town where that has been an issue, either – Tailem Bend’s GP clinic recently suffered a temporary closure following a similar clash.
So the Mannum clinic’s staff had spent almost four years planning the move into a purpose-built facility of their own, practice manager Kirstie Pym said.
“We’re a family-oriented business with four GP owners,” she said.
“We’re here to carry on their vision, and make sure the service is here for the long term.”
On Monday, the doors opened at the new clinic on Adelaide Road.
A few finishing touches still need to be added, but the new clinic is open for business. Photos: Peri Strathearn.
Curled around a central courtyard with an 80-year-old palm tree in it are two wings of consulting rooms.
One wing is for the clinic’s GPs, along with an emergency treatment room where practitioners can stabilise patients while they await an ambulance.
The other wing, with its own reception area, is for allied health practitioners and visiting specialists: cardiologists, orthopedic and general surgeons, podiatrists, mental health counsellors, physiotherapists and spinal experts.
Expectant mums can access pediatric services with Dr Stephen Napoli, who has all the necessary clearances to deliver babies at the Murray Bridge hospital; and SA Pathology will soon move into a room, too.
There are plans to establish a community garden out the back, alongside a mural painted by Riverland artist Daniel Giles.
The whole building is light and airy, its walls decorated with paintings by Jan Klose and photographs by Tyler Barker.
“We’ve tried to move away from that clinical feel, and we’ve still got our river view,” Ms Pym said, pointing to a panoramic shot of the River Murray which hangs opposite the reception desk.
“It doesn’t have to (look like) a sterile health facility.
“It’s more inviting.”
It wasn’t just about making patients feel at home, either, she said.
At a time when attracting qualified staff to regional areas could be a challenge, providing the nicest possible workplace was one way Mannum’s clinic could try to ensure continuity of service.
The entire building project was privately funded.
Donated defib may save a life one day
One of the highlights of the medical centre’s opening week came on Wednesday, when local teenager Thomas Hogben visited to drop off a housewarming gift: a new defibrillator.
The young Lions Club member raised more than $1500 to secure the heart-starting device for the centre, mostly by selling chocolates and leaving donation tins around the town.
Thomas’ “superhuman” fundraising effort could make the difference between life and death for a patient one day, said Wojtek Cichonski, a representative of the company which manufactured the AED.
Thirty-three thousand cases of sudden cardiac arrest were reported across Australia and New Zealand each year.
“Sudden cardiac arrest is a really serious problem in the community,” he said.
“With the effect of CPR and a defibrillator, survival rates go from around 10 per cent to 80%.”
The AED will be mounted to an external wall so community members can access it in the event of an emergency.
It is the third Thomas has secured for the community in the past few years, following those at the Lions’ den and the local ambulance station.
