Two years old and already making waves: Surf Coast clinic earns award nod

TWO years after helping launch the Surf Coast Women’s Health Group, practice manager Amy McElgunn is still moved by the stories she hears from patients.

Brought on board by directors Niamh Logue and Courtney Weybury before the clinic opened, McElgunn said the practice is making a genuine difference to women’s lives.

Longer appointments, multidisciplinary care and, most importantly, listening to and believing women have helped set the clinic apart.

For McElgunn, seeing women feel empowered in their healthcare is what matters most.

“I would find myself thinking what are we doing here and then half an hour later I’ll get a story of someone coming in and they feel safe in the space,” she said.

“They feel heard and that is what even I underestimated. They have told someone their problem before, but they just don’t get listened to.

“Now they come back and it might have taken one appointment, or it might have taken five appointments, but they’ve been listened to and not given up on.”

After 20 years working as a practice nurse, McElgunn said she had always dreamed of helping build a clinic from the ground up.

While joining Logue and Weybury to bring the practice to life was daunting, she has never regretted taking the leap.

“You get to build your team and put policies in place and be really innovative with technology and data from day dot,” McElgunn said.

“It was a big decision to leave nursing. I just thought when these opportunities come up, you’ve just got to jump.

“When does the opportunity to work with a couple of your best mates and build something from scratch together come up? It was too good to pass up.”

Having recently celebrated the clinic’s second birthday, McElgunn said she could not be prouder of what the team has achieved.

With women travelling not only from the Surf Coast but from across regional Victoria for appointments, she said there was clear evidence the model was working.

And while the move into practice management was a new challenge, McElgunn has quickly made her mark.

She was recently named a finalist in the Outstanding Contribution to Rural Practice Management category at the Victorian Rural Health Awards.

McElgunn said recognising the work of practice managers behind the scenes was important.

“Everyone here is working so hard. I feel a bit uncomfortable being picked out because I couldn’t do what do I do if I didn’t have the support of my team,” she said.

Also among the finalists is Drysdale psychologist Sarah-Jayne Duryea.

The founder of Happy Minds Psychology is a finalist in the Outstanding Contribution to Mental Health category.

The winners will be announced on 25 June.