Busy mother of seven and keen renovator Dr Emily Wright loves general practice and her Camden community. She’s passionate about building relationships with her patients and empowering them with the knowledge and support to improve their health. The Optimal Health Medical Centre, Gledswood Hills GP is this month’s GP Profile.
How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in the Camden LGA?
This is my 11th year in general practice.
I’ve been a general practitioner in the Camden region for about six years. Initially, I worked at Spring Farm and I was there for several years. I moved to Gledswood Hills at the beginning of last year.
When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?
That was very, very early on. I’d always wanted to be a doctor. I come from a really large family and I’d always been the family fixer, so it was natural for me to go into something which was helping people.
When I went to university and did medicine, I really struggled because of all the hospital-based placements. I didn’t like the politics or the culture. I knew very early on in my community placements that the community was where I was meant to be. I loved doing community mental health, I loved doing drug and alcohol support – anything that was outside of the hospital.
It was a very natural choice. As soon as I could get that internship and residency done, I wanted the GP program. I wouldn’t do any other branch of medicine.
What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?
I’m really privileged in what people tell me. People open up to me and I get to see every aspect of their lives. I get to see their achievements. They come and tell me when things are going well. I’m also able to help them when things aren’t going so well. I enjoy being a part of their life, and being someone safe they can come to and not get judgment.
One of the things I love the most is seeing whole families. I have patients I’ve been seeing for five years. I was their antenatal GP. Now their babies are five-year-olds and going to school, and they’re having their next baby. In some cases, I’m seeing grandparents, parents and children, and that gives me a great picture of their life.
I feel really blessed to have that connection with people and to have that fulfillment.
I feel most satisfied being able to give my patients advice on their healthcare in a way which suits them. It’s important to make it about their needs, not just what I think they need. And it’s not a one-size fits all solution.
For instance, I might have a patient who hasn’t got a Medicare card and I’ve got to be much more cautious with ordering blood tests etc because they can’t afford it. But then at the same time, I’ve got to be advocating to them that this is about their health and they need to spend the money.
I look at the whole picture. It’s very easy to get cranky at somebody who hasn’t taken the medication you’ve prescribed but what you’ve really got to ask yourself is why haven’t they taken it? Are they scared? Is it not affordable? Are there side effects which are unpalatable? And then work around that.
I find that even though it’s challenging sometimes, it’s always interesting.
I also really love health education. I love teaching patients about their health and reiterating the things they should be looking out for.
What is the most important thing you/your practice contributes to this community?
I think we provide quality care. It’s about holistic, affordable and accessible healthcare. That’s the challenge these days. We are all struggling with accessibility at the moment because everyone is inundated.
I make myself available even when I don’t have availability. A lot of the doctors here do that. We all practise best practice. We’re all on the same page and we work really well as a team. That’s important for the community. There’s good practice management here as well.
A lot of us also live in this community, so we’re aware of its diversity and aware of the challenges in our community.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I love renovating. I renovate like a pro! I’ve been jack-hammering this past weekend.
Two years ago we were very fortunate to have picked up a tiny beach shack down the coast. It’s a tiny fibro shack, so little it doesn’t fit my whole family.
I decided, I can do this and just gutted it and started by installing an Ikea kitchen. I just kept going. On the weekend I removed all the kitchen tiles, I’ve replaced all the flooring myself and ripped out the 70s wardrobes and painted the whole place inside and out.
I also love musicals, movies and travel – that’s a big one – but I especially love renovating.
Is there anything else you’d like to let your fellow primary carers know about you?
I’m really passionate about the mental health and wellbeing of women and children in our community.
I see a lot of kiddies who are neurodiverse – I don’t know if I just have a radar for it. These parents often need to be told “no it’s not your parenting, your child is challenging”. I have pregnant patients who need reassurance about their pregnancy, or they might have newborn babies and have so many questions which are unanswered.
We are missing out with these new young mums. We should be having forums or dedicated community health meetings where they can bring up their issues and ask for the help they desperately need.
We should be teaching more about mental health, resilience and life skills, in schools.
What do you love most about Gledswood Hills/Camden LGA?
I love the community. I love the fact that there’s always someone who’s ready to lend a hand.
I love the fact that I can go out to the shops and run into 10 patients and they’re not embarrassed to see me or to say hello. Or I run into them at netball or school pickup. I love that about this community. I just keep my boundaries, like ‘no we’re not going to talk about your medical condition here at the netball, I’ll see you at Monday’s appointment’.
I enjoy the fact we’re quite diverse out here and also that we’re not all cramped in, there’s nice green spaces, nice walkways, parks and lakes. I feel like you can breathe out here.
We live in a really good community. I don’t feel like we have a huge issue with racism or crime. I don’t feel like we have a huge issue with social standings like a lower class or higher class. I feel like we’re all just working class.
I want to keep working in this community for as long as possible because the relationships, for me, are the most important thing.
What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?
I tell people that health is not just about illness. It’s about their functioning, their thinking, their mental health, their sleep, their diet, their nutrition, their exercise, their family, their finances.
I want to empower them with knowledge and support them. I’m not here to tell them what to do, I’m here to guide them, give suggestions, and help them make the decisions and do the work. I tell them there’s never a lost cause, there’s always room for improvement and it’s always a team effort. They’re never alone with their health. I think it’s really important to have one primary doctor for continuity of care. But I also encourage them to make connections with other doctors in my practice for when I’m not here.
I let them know I’m not just interested in listening to their chest and giving them antibiotics. I will help them with your Centrelink forms or their NDIS forms or their legal requests to my capacity. I understand that all those things influence your health.
I try to get them to recognise their strengths and take control of their health. That’s really important too. If you start educating early, they understand the red flags and what to look for when their child is sick, for example, and they won’t need to come to the doctor every time their child has a cold. I give lots of handwritten notes for them – I’m teaching them and they are learning.