Recently Gippsland dairy farms in south Victoria have been hosting a small group of prospective doctors learning all about farm-related health issues as part of Monash University’s Rural Placement Programme, which is supported by Dairy Australia’s Legendairy marketing and communications initiative.
Boolarra farmer Matt Gleeson said it was great opportunity to show the trainee doctors that farmers, and dairy farmers in particular, could present at their local doctor’s clinic with unique problems. He emphasised the repetitive part of his daily work, as well as the many dangers and things that could potentially go wrong.
As farmers lived where they worked and had great empathy and attachment for their animals that could mean they put them before themselves, he said.
Trainees also needed to be aware of zoonotic diseases, which are passed between animals and humans, with that improved understanding resulting in better health outcomes for every dairy farmer.
He made the point that when farmers say to their doctor there’s not much wrong, they should ask lots of questions, especially about why they have come to see them in the first place.
The 13 students checked out afternoon milking in the dairy as well as inspecting calving pens and doing a paddock walk. One student, James O’Sullivan, who was bought up on a beef farm, praised the two-week programme, saying it showed there was support for doctors in rural areas even though they might have a smaller team around them than if they were practicing in the city. They were also to see farmers as real people rather than a stereotyped view of them not wanting any help from anyone and just wanting to mind their own business. With this greater understanding they could better connect with them.
A quick check with a New Zealand trainee doctor in the final stages of her degree from Otago University indicated that there isn’t any similar programme in this country. But she’s lucky as having a dairy farming grandfather as well as aunt and uncle involved in the industry she’s very aware of some of the ways in which this group of people might present with different symptoms and illnesses compared with the rest of the population. The word leptospirosis was mentioned.
A great job has been done over recent years by a number of rural groups zeroing in a specific health issues where farmers are over-represented. Federated Farmers and Rural Women have been particularly active in the areas of spotting and getting help with depression at an early stage, and there have been initiatives concentrating on breast cancer for women and prostate cancer for men.
Perhaps the most comprehensive programme has been the Dairy Women’s Network’s Pit Stop health check offered at a variety of venues where farmers gather, such as conferences and field days. This is a great way to gently and quickly get farmers to think about health issues which they may be vaguely aware of but haven’t got around to getting their doctor to check out further.
It’s very much in farmers’ nature to push other activities and appointments to the front of the list, leaving vital health matters for a date later on, which never arrives. But a programme similar to that in Australia, getting trainee doctors out onfarm, could have the effect of those going through it being much more aware of telltale signs of illness among dairy farmer patients. They might not even need to come into the surgery for a doctor to realise just with casual social contact that there could be some deeper problem, and prompt them to make that appointment – and soon.
Another great outcome from such a programme could be a greater understanding from doctors of what farmers go through at times of adverse weather events. They’ll be all too aware of the stress and strain of late snowfalls and flooding where farmers are struggling to get stock to shelter or higher ground and once they’re safely there, get feed to them.
But they might not be so aware of the debilitating stress of prolonged drought where an already bleak situation gets bleaker day by day, with individual farmers feeling powerless because they’re unable to do much. This is where Rural Support comes into its own in making farmers realise they are going through a similar experience to not only neighbours but often farmers throughout their region.
So wouldn’t it be a great idea if all these organisations could all get together and promote the idea of a similar programme to that in Australia? The benefits would be there for the farming industry, medical profession and whole health sector, not to mention the economy for years to come.
