Why is travel a healthcare issue for people in Eden?
We heard from the Eden community that they need to travel to access some health services, which can make it hard to get help. Travel and transport can become barriers to accessing healthcare in regional towns like Eden. If you don't have a car or can't drive yourself, other transport options may not be available. Or they may be expensive.
This can make it difficult to coordinate healthcare appointments. Our survey revealed that many Eden residents rely on friends or family to drive them. Some people reported missing a health appointment when they couldn't find suitable transport.
What are we doing about this?
Some of the more specialised health services can't have a permanent presence in the town, but can visit Eden on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. For example, a dental bus, a skin check bus, or a vaccination service at the community health building. If we promote these services well, people will know when they are available, and it might save someone a trip to Bega or beyond.
It's even more effective if we can run group clinics for people with similar health conditions, because the visiting health professional can see several people in the same session.
Many people in Eden are already using telehealth as a way to reduce their travel to health appointments, but it does come with some barriers for people who aren't confident with the technology or don't have the right equipment and connectivity.
We are identifying several locations in Eden that can provide some extra help to people who need to access a telehealth service in a private space. These are locations where someone is available to help you get connected to the right service. We aim to have at least three available locations in Eden by the end of 2026.
In future, some local organisations with suitable vehicles and drivers may have the capacity to drive people to non-urgent health appointments. This would require a booking system to be set up and a partnership with healthcare providers to subsidise the cost, so we are still looking into the possibilities.
