Dr Nathan Wong

Mildura Cardiology, The Alfred Registrars, Uncategorized

Our latest Alfred registrar on rotation from the Alfred Hospital is Dr. Nathan Wong. Nate completed his Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery at Monash University in 2018 and finished his physician training at the Alfred, during which he completed a Masters of Public Health through Newcastle University. He is currently an Advanced Trainee in General and Acute Care Medicine, and will undertake his first year of Cardiology Advanced Training in Geelong in 2024. Nate is interested in all aspects of cardiac care; from managing acutely ill inpatients to minimising cardiovascular risk within a clinic setting. He is particularly enjoying the hands-on experience of scanning with the echo techs and the pearls of wisdom provided by Dr Soward.

Having recently taken up bouldering in his free time, Nate’s biggest disappointment on arriving in Mildura was its absence of rock-climbing gyms! Instead, he’s spent most of his free time at Sip or Fossey’s and makes sure to get down to the driving range on his afternoons off.

Dr Vijayatubini Vijayarajan

Mildura Cardiology, The Alfred Registrars

Vijaya completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Adelaide and is currently completing her final year of Master of Philosophy with University of Sydney. The title of her thesis is “ Demographics, Morbidity and Mortality Outcomes of Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices”. Her career began at the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network in South Australia and she underwent Basic Physician Training at Illawara Shoalhaven Local Health Network in New South Wales. She is currently a first year General Medicine Advanced Trainee with an interest in cardiology.

Vijaya enjoys all aspects of cardiology and ensures that her patients are managed in a holistic manner. She has special interest in ischaemic heart disease and believes in prevention and aggressive risk factor management is the cornerstone of the treatment of ischaemic heart disease. 

Outside of work, Vijaya enjoys exploring the towns and vineyards around Mildura. She loves the relaxed lifestyle and is greatly appreciative of the welcoming residents in Mildura who have made her feel at home.

Dr Nicky Evans

Mildura Cardiology, The Alfred Registrars

Nicky completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Monash University then moved to Adelaide to complete her Doctor of Medicine at Flinders University.

She worked at Eastern Health for four years and is now in her first year of Advanced Training in General and Acute Care Medicine at Alfred Health.  

Nicky is enjoying managing patients with a variety of heart problems and improving her skills in echocardiography and ECGs. 

Her favourite thing to do in Mildura was running along the Murray, but now that the path has flooded she is sticking to the gym! She loves the relaxed lifestyle and friendly people here. 

Dr Ashlea Low

Mildura Cardiology, The Alfred Registrars

Our latest registrar on rotation from the Alfred is Ashlea Low.

Ashlea completed her Bachelor of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne and MBBS at Deakin University.

She started her career as a junior doctor in Ballarat and Eastern Health and is currently a first year General Medicine Advanced Trainee.

She is enjoying all aspects of her work as a cardiology registrar especially echocardiography and is now undertaking a Graduate Diploma of Clinical Ultrasound.

Outside of work, Ashlea enjoys swimming and hiking and is looking forward to exploring the national parks around Mildura. 

Dr Adrian Chee

, , Mildura Cardiology, The Alfred Registrars

Our newest registrar on rotation from Alfred Health is Dr Adrian Chee. The Advanced Physician training position is a six month rotation based at Mildura Cardiology in conjunction with the Mildura Base Hospital.

Adrian completed his Basic Physician Training at Monash and Alfred Health, and is currently an Advanced Trainee in General and Acute Care Medicine, which he hopes to combine with Haematology training. Adrian has previously worked in Mildura several times as a medical registrar, and hopes to return to practice here once he has completed his specialty training. He is also interested in clinical education, and is involved in teaching at both a medical student and junior doctor level.

Outside of work, Adrian has been working on upskilling his culinary skills, as well as having taken up pilates during the COVID lockdown. He highly enjoys the food scene in Mildura and hopes that he can visit Trentham again before he has to leave!”

Dr Dana Forcey

Mildura Cardiology, The Alfred Registrars

Our newest registrar on rotation from Alfred Health is Dr Dana Forcey. Dana completed both her undergraduate training in Immunology and Pathology, and her MD at The University of Melbourne. Her Basic Physician Training was completed at Alfred Health and the Central Australian Health Service – Alice Springs. She is currently an Advanced Trainee in General and Acute Care Medicine, which she hopes to combine with Nephrology training and she is particularly interested in Indigenous Renal Health.

Dana is enjoying all aspects of General Cardiology at Mildura Cardiology, especially ECG reporting and transthoracic echocardiography. She hopes these skills will be useful to her practice in the remote and rural settings in which she hopes to work in future. She enjoys working with the team at Mildura Cardiology and Mildura Base Hospital.

Outside of work, Dana enjoys hiking and landscape photography. During the coronarvirus lockdown she has inherited a sourdough starter from Carly (assistant practice manager), and is enjoying competing with Carly and Dr Soward in the pursuit of baking the perfect sourdough bread!

Graduate Diplomas in Cardiac Ultrasound

, , Mildura Cardiology
Jessica Goodman and Kirsten Newman recently became echocardiographers at Mildura Cardiology.

HOME is where the heart is for two local nurses-turned-echocardiographers.

After completing their Bachelor of Nursing degrees two years ago, Kirsten Newman and Jessica Goodman decided to take their medical education one step further and complete a Graduate Diploma in Cardiac Ultrasound, a two-year course run through the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

The girls received their qualifications recently, essentially “doubling the staff levels” at their workplace, Mildura Cardiology.

Chief echocardiographer Lisa Zweck said the course undertaken by Ms Newman and Ms Goodman is “notorious for having students drop out or fail due to the high level of skills involved”.

“Not only is it very academically difficult requiring physics, anatomy, physiology, and mathematical equations, but the physical skills required to perform the procedure is extremely difficult,” Ms Zweck said.

“This has been an outstanding achievement for the girls and now has basically doubled our staff levels,

“They are local girls and it is wonderful that they have retrained in such a specialised area to help service our rural community.”

Ms Goodman and Ms Newman said while their training was “intense,” they were now looking forward to embarking on their new career.

“I always knew I wanted to work in healthcare, starting with working as a personal carer, then nursing and leading in to echocardiography seemed like a very natural progression for me,” Ms Goodman said.

“I really think you can have a rewarding and successful career right here in Mildura, our workplace has been so supportive.”

The road to echocardiology looked very different for Ms Newman, who decided to take a turn to the medical profession after hairdressing for seven years.

“I was a qualified hairdresser when I started studying nursing … I never thought I’d do a post grad, let alone a degree,” she said.

“I did it because I just thought it was amazing, I had almost finished my nursing degree and thought I’d give it a go — and I’m so glad I did.”

Both girls agree that having access to “hands on learning” through their workplace was key to their success.

“You’re actually not allowed to do the course with out the hands on training, so we were really lucky to have Mildura Cardiology take us on and support us though that,” Ms Goodman said.

“The wonderful thing about echocardiology is that it’s continually changing and improving – you’re learning new things all the time… it’s constantly evolving, and that’s a very exciting thing to be a part of.”

National Honour for doc

, , Mildura Cardiology

Dr Raymond Cowling was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday honours.

 

FOR more than 30 years, Dr Raymond Cowling has been travelling back and forward from Melbourne to Mildura to offer his services to a regional community he has grown to love.

And this week, the 72-year-old senior pacemaker physiologist was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia as part of the Queen’s Birthday honours.

“I was really pleased, my sister burst into tears when I told her and my partner gave me a huge hug,” he said.

Dr Cowling, the visiting affiliate at Mildura Cardiology, was awarded for his service to community health. While he has worked for many years as a senior pacemaker physiologist and formerly as a senior pacemaker technologist, he has also spent more than 30 years working with people in the recovery phase after an attempt at suicide.

“I thought I would like to help people and I have been able to provide support for those people,” he said.

“I help out as often as they need and it’s good for them.”

The travelling doc has had an extraordinary life.

He first set out to have a career in electronics but it was near the end of his degree that he discovered his passion for medicine.

“To qualify I had to do a year in the industry, so I did it at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, that was my window into medicine,” he said.

“I was fascinated by research and aspects of the heart.

“I married electronics and medical knowledge together and obtained by first job at Medtronic in Minneapolis in the late 1960s, early 1970s.”

It was there that Dr Cowling witnessed the “evolutionary” change from a pacemaker being an external device to something that was placed inside a patient.

“I just happened to be the right person, at the right place and at the right time,” he said.

Dr Cowling returned to Australia in 1978 and was employed at Telectronics and St Vincent’s Hospital.

Almost a decade later, Dr Cowling began visiting Mildura.

“It was 32 years ago that I joined Dr Alan Soward and Dr Kevin Chambers to start offering pacemaker implantations in Mildura,” Dr Cowling said.

“Eight years ago I retired from all of the Melbourne hospitals but still visit Mildura, averaging 102 visits a year.

“I just love the people and the environment and serving a community in need.”

With frequent flights to Mildura each week, Dr Cowling said the great relationship he had formed with Qantas airline had been an important aspect in being able to do his job.

“I remember when I was on the way to the airport and there was a crash on the freeway but at the time there was an emergency in Mildura, I called the airline and they held the plane for me,” he said.

“During my 32 years coming here, there has been four times that they have waited for me and have saved the lives of people needing help.

“It’s that family, community atmosphere that I like and what has kept me coming back.”

Dr Cowling said while he would like to retire in the near future, his patients don’t need to panic yet as he still has a few years up his sleeve.

Story and photo courtesy of Sunraysia Daily

Heart Surgery Breakthrough

, , Mildura Cardiology

Mildura Cardiology’s Dr Matthew Brooks – has performed an Australian-first operation.

 

Mildura Cardiologist Dr Matthew Brooks (who is married to a Mildura girl) and Dr William Wilson have performed a procedure known as the ‘BASILICA technique’ at The Royal Melbourne Hospital – previously only performed in North America.

 

Photo and story courtesy of The Herald Sun:

 

A grandfather with a failing heart and no traditional option to help him has been saved in an Australian-first operation.

Roger Reinhardt, 88, was back on his feet a day after having a new valve placed inside a leaking valve he received during open heart surgery 12 years ago, but which was now threatening to cut off blood to his heart.

Mr Reinhardt’s surgeons at the Royal Melbourne Hospital hope the success of Friday’s operation will open the door to saving others who could not previously be saved with modern valve replacement techniques.

With palliative care seemingly the only option for Mr Reinhardt when his old heart valve failed a fortnight ago, the Bairnsdale grandfather of 11 was offered the chance to see if a new operation could save his life.

“I am privileged to be able to do this for them,” Mr Reinhardt said. “I had become very, very short of breath and it happened gradually over four or five weeks before it got to the stage I could hardly breathe at all.”

A technique called transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) — where a catheter is used to push the valve into place inside the worn-out valve and take over its job — has become common in recent years to save patients in Mr Reinhardt’s condition.

But, like 3 per cent of such cases, Mr Reinhardt’s coronary artery is placed so close to the leaky valve that any attempt to replace it would push the device over the coronary opening and block blood supply to his heart.

Having investigated a new BASILICA technique being pioneered in the US to overcome the issue, Royal Melbourne Hospital cardiac surgeons Dr Matthew Brooks and Dr William Wilson gave Mr Reinhardt a new chance.

Passing an electrified wire through Mr Reinhardt’s femoral artery to his leaking valve, they cut a V-shaped gap in its side before passing a new valve along the same route and inserting it inside the old device.

Although the old valve blocked the coronary artery, its strategically placed gap allowed blood to keep flowing.

“He has been in hospital for weeks now and we haven’t been able to get him out so he would have been palliated,” Dr Brooks said.

“He became the first (for the surgery) because the timing was right: they have done a handful of cases overseas and his anatomy was ideal for this procedure.”