Skin checks at the saleyard, the popular medical clinic with farmers queuing for a check-up

In regional areas, many doctors at GP clinics and hospitals say it’s a challenge to entice farmers into coming to see them for a regular check-up.

“The farming community generally avoid any kind of medical professionals, and it’s not because they don’t really like them, it’s because they’re too busy on their farms,” Sarah Austin told 7.30.

Ms Austin is a nurse at Yea District and Memorial Hospital and has been organising health clinics and specialised allied health professionals to provide free treatment and advice at the Yea saleyards.

This model of moving healthcare outside of hospitals and taking it directly to the farmers at the Yea saleyards is a first of its kind in Australia.

“We’ve tried to include health promotion, intervention, early intervention and treatment as well at the saleyards. So, we’ve had cardiology, we’ve had audiology, we’ve had optometry,” Ms Austin said.

Every month at the Yea saleyards, a free health check is available for anyone visiting.

There are also rotating specialised health stalls, from prostate information to skin cancer.

Bringing healthcare to the farmers

Michael Purcell is a farmer in Yea. While attending the November event he spoke to Nigel McBridge from the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Mr Purcell says the casual conversation convinced him to get a prostate check.

“I fit the age and every other demographic that I should be seeing a doctor for a check. So yeah, that’s probably the first one I should be thinking about,” he said.

Jan Beer is the chair of the Yea saleyard committee of management. She’s also a local farmer.

Ms Beer says the free skin checks at the saleyards earlier this year were by far the most popular with farmers.

“I think every farmer you talk to has had the skin check because we’ve all had sun spots all over us and on our faces. And then you come along and they burn them off, and five minutes later, you’re on your way,” she said. 

Libby Pink, 74, visited the skin clinic in May. She believes the visit saved her life.

“I had a lesion on my bottom lip, and I decided it was time to get something else done about it, because I’d been to numerous doctors and had different tests done, and all came back negative,” Ms Pink said

A model for other regional communities 

The free health clinics at the Yea saleyards are run in partnership between Murrindindi Shire Council and the Yea District and Memorial Hospital.

The program is funded by flood recovery money that was given to the council after floods in 2022 impacted the Yea community.

The University of Melbourne has been tasked with evaluating whether the Yea saleyards health clinic program is working and whether it could be rolled out in other communities.

Dr Jennifer Keast is from the University of Melbourne and is a Rural Health Academic Network researcher at Yea Memorial and District Hospital.

“One of our main aims coming out of this research is to establish a set of guidelines around how to establish clinics such as this, and we’ll be sharing those guidelines across the country with other healthcare organisations and communities who might wish to replicate what we’re doing.”

Dr Keast’s evaluation is expected to be completed by March next year.

“We believe in this model of taking healthcare outside the building and making it far more accessible to people and taking it to where people are, rather than waiting for people to come to us. But we don’t have definitive data to say that our assumptions are yet correct,” Ms Sinclair said.

For farmer Micheal Purcell, he says the context of receiving care at the saleyards is much more inviting for farmers in the community, who find hospitals and GP clinics daunting.

“It’s the sort of the white room, white coat thing, it puts people off. It’s just a little bit intimidating for a lot of people,” he said.

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