Heart of Australia's original Heart Truck, HEART 1 has made its first visit to the towns of Middlemount, Moura, Theodore and Banana as part of the organisation's expanding service areas.

Since commencing operations in October 2014, Heart of Australia has provided life-saving health services to regional Queenslanders aboard its customised specialist medical clinics-on-wheels, affectionately known as Heart Trucks.

Heart of Australia Founder and cardiologist, Dr Rolf Gomes, said expansion to the towns of Moura, Banana, Theodore and Middlemount had been made possible with the support of this year's new $1 million partnership with Anglo American.

"Every time we expand our services to a new location, we have the potential to change and save lives for the community who live there. People who have often gone without specialist services for years, or who have needed to travel hundreds of kilometres at significant expense to access them," Dr Gomes said.

"We are very pleased to be working with Anglo American, which supports our big-picture efforts while also providing direct support for us to deliver services to the local communities of Moura, Banana, Theodore and Middlemount."

Anglo American welcomed the Heart Truck and the Heart of Australia team with community events in Theodore and Middlemount.

Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American's Metallurgical Coal business, Tyler Mitchelson, said the company supported the service’s expansion to other communities where it operates, as part of Anglo American’s commitment to improving health care in the region.

"We understand how critical it is for rural communities to have access to health services when they need them most. We saw an opportunity to work with Heart of Australia to see health services made available in Moura, Banana, Theodore and Middlemount, where Heart of Australia was not previously visiting.

“Our people working at our Capcoal complex and Dawson operations welcomed HEART 1 to town for the first time, ahead of regular quarterly visits. I encourage all community members to learn more about the specialist medical services available through Heart of Australia and take advantage of them.”

The arrival of the Heart Truck in these locations comes just weeks after the Heart Trucks rolled into Biloela and Childers for the first time, bringing Heart of Australia specialist services to the doorstep of those local communities.

Dr Gomes said the expansion of services to Childers and Biloela had been made possible thanks to a $12 million funding commitment from the Federal Coalition Government.

"Thanks to the funding commitment from the Federal Coalition Government announced in 2019, we are in a position to progressively increase the number of communities we service, with the new towns including Richmond, Weipa, Cooktown, Sarina, Palm Island, Proserpine, Ayr, Biloela and Childers. The funding also plays an important role in supporting our overall operations throughout Queensland."

Since Heart of Australia commenced operations in 2014, they have seen over 8,000 patients and helped save over 350 lives.

"Taking specialists to regional and remote towns over the past five years has helped save more than 350 lives, and with our expansion into new towns, this number will only continue to rise."

Heart of Australia's specialist medical services include cardiology, gynaecology, neurology, gastroenterology, urology, endocrinology and sleep and respiratory functions.
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