Doctors, nurses and paramedics fearful small towns face potential COVID disaster

Julia Driscoll
Updated November 5 2021 - 11:39am, first published September 23 2021 - 6:00pm
Scott Beaton (right), vice president of the Australian Paramedics Association and a paramedic based in Gilgandra, says any extra stress or strain on regional and rural health is going to cause a serious issue. Photo supplied
Scott Beaton (right), vice president of the Australian Paramedics Association and a paramedic based in Gilgandra, says any extra stress or strain on regional and rural health is going to cause a serious issue. Photo supplied

"We're on skeleton staff. We are quite anxious, because one positive case will be a catastrophe. If we have people from Sydney coming and we just get one case, we're in big strife. If we had a positive staff member, it would shut the whole hospital down."

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Julia Driscoll

Julia Driscoll

Journalist

Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.