Lakes Entrance will send a bold message about the need for better access to local medical care when 90 chairs are placed across the Lakes Entrance Footbridge next Saturday, May 9, at 1pm, as part of a community awareness event called The Longest Waiting Room.
The event has been created to support Cunninghame Arm Medical Centre’s campaign to attract an additional senior GP to Lakes Entrance. Each chair will represent the difference that one additional senior doctor could make, with around 90 extra appointments able to be made available to the community every week.
Organisers say the event is designed to do more than raise awareness locally. The aim is to create a powerful visual moment that attracts media attention well beyond East Gippsland, so the campaign can reach an experienced GP in Melbourne, Sydney or elsewhere who may be ready for a meaningful career move and a genuine sea change.
Community support will be central to making the event successful. Organisers are inviting local residents, business owners, families, patients, community leaders and supporters to apply for one of the 90 seats and be part of the headline image. A strong turnout will help show that Lakes Entrance is not quietly waiting for change, but standing together to find a practical solution to a serious rural health workforce challenge.
The campaign is not about suggesting Lakes Entrance is out of doctors. Cunninghame Arm Medical Centre continues to provide care to the local community, but the practice urgently needs to strengthen its senior GP and supervision capacity so it can continue meeting local healthcare needs while also supporting the next generation of rural doctors.
The Longest Waiting Room will use one of Lakes Entrance’s most recognisable landmarks to tell that story in a way that is difficult to ignore. Ninety chairs across the Footbridge will represent not only the appointments the community needs, but also the opportunity available to the right doctor: a respected teaching practice, a supportive community, professional purpose and the lifestyle benefits of one of Victoria’s most beautiful coastal towns.
Organisers hope the event will become a strong media moment for Lakes Entrance and are encouraging the community to help make it impossible to miss. Every person who applies to take a seat will help build the image, the story and the message that Lakes Entrance is ready to welcome another senior GP.
The event will be held on the Lakes Entrance Footbridge on Saturday, May 9, at 1pm. Applications to take part close at 11am on Friday, May 1, and can be made online at the Lakes Entrance Action and Development Association website at Cunninghame Arm Medical Centre.
The campaign forms part of a broader community-supported doctor recruitment initiative for Cunninghame Arm Medical Centre, supported through a Rural and Remote Community Support Grant from the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine. The grant aims to help the practice work with local community leaders to recruit more senior doctors to the practice.
