Great Scot September 2018 Gt Scot_154_September_online | Page 74

OSCA
ABOVE: ROHAN KERR ('89)
WITH HIS SON HAMISH
AND DAUGHTER BETHANY
AT ROLLINGSTONE JUST
NORTH OF INGHAM,
QUEENSLAND
The facts are stark: an estimated 425,000
Australians are living with dementia, and without
a medical breakthrough, that number could
increase to more than a million by 2050. At
present, about a third of all Australians over the
age of 85 have dementia, and it has become
our second-most common cause of death.
Those are some of the facts, but behind
the statistics is the human cost, including the
distress family members suffer when a loved
one is affected by dementia.
As Director of Education with General
Practice Training Tasmania, Dr Rohan Kerr
(‘89) was the project leader of a federally
funded Dementia Care Training and Education
Project. It was a four-year project that resulted
in the development of an online educational
module for general practitioners and health
professionals working with people with
dementia across Australia.
Rohan said the program focuses on
awareness, diagnosis, management and
support of patients with dementia and their
carers in general practice. ‘At the moment,
74
An
important
dementia
care
project is
up and
running
most diagnoses of dementia are made after
referral by GPs to specialists, and this often
results in a significant delay in diagnosis,’ he
told Great Scot. ‘Earlier diagnosis of dementia
can result in improved support for a family
member with dementia, and can help put in
place options needed for future care. It can
also lead to general practice offering reassuring
explanations and prognoses for patients, their
families and carers.’
The program is being rolled out nationwide,
with the module being made widely available
to GPs, nursing staff and allied health
professionals. ‘Because it’s available online,
practitioners in remote settings will be able
to upskill without needing to leave their
communities,’ Rohan said. ‘With an ageing
population and expected increases in people
living with dementia in the coming years, it
makes good sense having general practice
positioned to address this health care burden.’
Having got the dementia project off the
ground, Rohan and his family decided on a
lifestyle change. He resigned from his position
at General Practice Training Tasmania and as
a GP at the Claremont Village Medical Centre
in outer metropolitan Hobart this year, and the
Kerr family is now living at Ingham, 110km north
of Townsville in North Queensland.
‘Our children are attending the local school
in Ingham, while my wife and I are offering GP
and physiotherapy services to the community,’
Rohan said. ‘After six months in Ingham we will
move to the remote community of Nhulunbuy in
East Arnhem Land. Our children will go to the
local school and my wife and I will again offer
GP and physiotherapy services through the
local hospital and the local GP practice.
‘We consider ourselves lucky to have the
opportunity to travel, work and help address the
health inequalities that exist in remote settings
around Australia, and with Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people. In January 2019 we plan
to return to Hobart, where we can share our
experiences and maybe bring new ideas back
to our Tasmanian workplaces.’
DAVID ASHTON ('65)
Great Scot Number 154 – September 2018