Dr Marlow Coates and Rex O’Rourke show off the new mobile dental clinics for Cape York and Torres Strait residents. Photo: Chisa Hasegawa.
Three new dental vans will ensure access to quality oral health care for Cape York and Torres Strait residents.
Fully equipped with portable dental equipment, the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service (TCHHS) vans will be delivered to and based in Weipa, Cooktown and Bamaga before the end of the year.
The new custom-built vans will replace the current aging fleet, and bring the total active mobile fleet to four.
TCHHS chief executive Rex O’Rourke said the mobile dentists would expand services in the remotest communities — vital when covering 31 primary healthcare centres, which do not all have permanent equipment.
“Around 20 kids a day is what we aim to be able to see, and then up to 10 adults per day as well,” he said.
“Being able to travel to those sites is critical when some of these sites do not have a permanent dental chair or the like.
“Having this allows us to have x-ray machines, and allows us to really provide the best care we can to the community in a pop-up van that looks great.”
In addition to the expanded access, TCHHS executive director medical services Dr Marlow Coates said prevention, especially in children, was a top priority of the mobile service.
“One of the things we’re doing with these vans is leaving the primary healthcare centres and the hospital facilities, and going out to the primary schools to do screening, promotion and prevention activities,” he said.
“In-reach to the schools so that the kids can start those healthy habits early, and link with their parents to encourage those habits, is a really strong, oral health prevention activity, which promotes good hygiene throughout the rest of someone’s life.
“Another advantage of this van is that if you’re going to do a promotion of prevention activity down at a school for the kids, it’s great to rock up with a van that looks like this, has the capacity, and you’re not just doing the school-room based activities.”
Dr Coates said the three new vans were also more fit-for-purpose than the old “drovers”, which were reaching their end-of-life.
“This one doesn’t require three-phased power, or sewerage or greywater drainages,” he said.
“This is a fully self-contained battery, it’s got battery backup, and can operate all the services completely remote from any of those infrastructure setups, which is useful to some of our communities that don’t have the level of access.”
TCHHS is currently looking for dentists, oral health therapists, and dental therapists to join the team, and ensure the services can continue to run smoothly and consistently.
“It’s great having the infrastructure, the mobile equipment, and logistic chains to get services into our remote communities, however, we need the clinical expertise in workforce to do it,” Dr Coates said.
