Expanding to support the community's health needs

SINCE it's inception in 2021, the team at Alba Health has grown and expanded to better meet the needs of the community. Alba Health was established in May 2021 in the midst of a pandemic at it’s original location of 164 Myrtle St by principal GP Dr Justin Donaldson. As demand grew for services and the old ”roundabout op shop” location became available, Alba Health designed the new facility with the theme of “clean, green and bright” to create a welcoming and calming environment to patients and staff, opening in April of 2023. The team now operates five days a week and consists of four administration members, two nurses, and four providers; including nurse practitioner Stephen Voogt, and three general practitioners Dr Donaldson, Dr Alison Mahony and Dr Crissie Dumitrescu. Practice manager Greta Donaldson said the clinic has expanded it’s consult rooms and had capacity for more health professionals to provide health services in high demand. "This reduces wait times for appointments, offers more choice of providers to patients and greater flexibility of appointments across the week," she said. "In our patient feedback survey in 2024, the two main themes were the option to see a female GP and to be open five days a week which we have achieved. "The clinic has a modern look and feel and we placed a large emphasis on the patient comfort and experience in the design phase to create a calm and welcoming environment." With a focus on providing high quality, patient centred health care, the team believe that continuity of care creates the best outcomes and they are dedicated to providing a consistent, timely and an efficient service. Ms Donaldson said these core values are the guiding principals for the practitioners with every patient they support. "Patient centred care is at the heart of each appointment, providing care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs, and values," she said. "We aim to consistently link patients in with a regular GP, minimise wait times to get an appointment, participate in the after hours service at Urgent Care at Myrtleford Hospital and optimise the care with other health professionals who are involved." With the addition of nurse practitioner Stephen Voogt and Dr Crissie Dumitrescu, the team at Alba Health have expanded their scope to respond to the community's diverse needs. Stephen Voogt, nurse practitioner, has over thirty years of experience working across the healthcare sector within Australia and overseas and has been a Beechworth local for more than 20 years with his family. In 2010 Steve was endorsed as a nurse practitioner and for the last 15 years has been working with GP’s and aged care facilities to provide specialist care to older people, more recently Steve has been working in Primary Health Care in Wangaratta. Ms Donaldson said nurse practitioners are highly skilled health professionals who can provide general services such as clinical examinations, health checks, scripts, medication review and management, diagnostic and pathology requests, specialist referral and sick/carer certificates. "A nurse practitioner can see patients in most instances for acute illness that require medical attention on the day, assistance for flare/exacerbation of chronic conditions and age related problems," she said. Dr Crissie Dumitrescu completed her undergraduate medical training in South Africa, at the University of the Witwatersrand. After graduation, she worked in the UK for 10 years, where she also completed GP training. Since 2005, Dr Dumitrescu has worked as a rural GP, as well as covering an Urgent Care Department at the local hospital and looking after in-patients. Part of her working time is spent teaching medical students and junior doctors. She has an interest in skin checks and minor surgery of skin lesions and is looking forward to developing a service in Myrtleford, she is currently at Alba Health on Mondays and taking new patients. Alba Health also offers a Healthy Hearts Program, to encourage local residents to check in with their heart health. For more information about this program, visit https://albahealth.com.au/healthy-hearts-program/. Alba Health is open week Monday to Friday from 8:45am to 5pm, appointments can be made by calling 5751 1138 or online via website www.albahealth.com.au.

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