Dimboola

Friday Andrew, Vanessa and myself headed north to the Wimmera. Our first point of call was to drop Vanessa off with all her lung function gear in Horsham so she could do some lung function testing, while Andrew and I journeyed further to Dimboola.

The purpose of our trip to Dimboola was to take a tour of the hospital and see where the new sleep centre will be. Plans have been in place for the establishment of this service for a few months now and we are getting closer to the commencement.

We were impressed with the ambiance of the hospital as it was warm and friendly and we felt that our patients would feel comfortable spending the night here. The three rooms where the overnight sleep studies will take place could not be faulted for their future purpose. All were situated in a nice quite corridor (important when you are doing a sleeping test) and equip with an ensuite.

The timeline for the opening of the centre is approximately six weeks and we already have a growing wait list. The Dimboola sleep centre will enhance the access people in the Wimmera have to overnight sleep studies. Currently travel time of up to 2 hours is warranted for a sleep investigation and while this is less than the time it takes to travel to either Melbourne or Adelaide we have found it is still a significant barrier to people accessing testing and treatment.

To coincide with the establishment of the Dimboola sleep centre we will be conducting information evenings on both sleep and respiratory medicine for health professionals. Please contact our office if you would like more information.

Jessica