Topic: Profile

Fairfield GP Furio Virant was recognised for his service to medicine with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in this year’s Australia Day Honours. We talked to Dr Virant about his important work in improving primary care standards in Australia during the past 40 years.

 

How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in the Fairfield LGA?

I came to Fairfield in 1978 and that’s how long I’ve been practicing as a GP – 44 years.

Before that I was in the Royal Australian Navy for four years and before that I did my residency.

 

Were you a doctor while in the navy?

Yes, I was a doctor in the Navy.

I served on the HMAS Vampire, which is now part of the Australian National Maritime Museum – I can go and look at my old ship with my grandkids! Out of the four years I was full-time in the Navy, I spent about one-and-a-half years at sea.

It was quite an eventful time.

It was the end of the Far East Fleet and the British stationing in Hong Kong at this time so I saw the end of colonial rule in South East Asia.

In 1976 we sailed to Timor to evacuate the Australians who were stuck there (after the Indonesian invasion). This was after the five Australian journalists were killed by the Indonesian military. Qantas ended up evacuating the Australians, but we were on our way there to do everything we could for them. 

We were also part of the group that went to America for their bicentenary celebrations in 1976.

Very interesting times!

 

When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?

When I was in the Navy they gave me time to do other things like anaesthetics and psychiatry. I realised that what I found most rewarding was to see people on a continuing basis rather than just sporadically.

General practice really came to the forefront because it suited my personality.

I also had some good mentors. Both of my daughters were delivered by GPs, in those days they were delivering babies. I got to know GPs and they were extremely nice, they were very warm and I got to know about their lives.

 

Tell us about your work improving primary care in Australia

 

Divisions of General Practice

We started the Divisions of General Practice in our local areas, then we set up state and federal bodies. I was the Chair of the Division of General Practice in Fairfield and I was on the inaugural board of the federal Division of General Practice in Canberra.

We formed the Divisions of General Practice because despite GPs vaccinating kids, we were still getting major outbreaks of measles, mumps, rubella. We looked at our fridges and found they were abysmal as far as keeping temperatures regulated. There was a cold spot here, a warm spot there and it was only really in the middle of the fridge that we could guarantee temperatures were going to be okay.

We set up Standards in general practice in 1993. We tested the Standards in 400 practices across Australia, and they were supposed to be good practices, but we found things like wet towels in the toilets which were never changed. You can imagine what this meant for hand hygiene.

GPs were doing the best we could with what we knew at the time.

 

Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited (AGPAL)

This led to the setting up of a body called AGPAL to audit medical practices. I was on the AGPAL Board in the early days. It has now been going for 20 years.

I’ve audited more than 700 practices across the state.

If a doctor doesn’t meet the Standards in general practice indicators, we reassess the indicators they haven’t met and I write reports for AGPAL to say now they’ve met the indicator or they still haven’t met the indicator.

 

Professional Services Review Committee

I was on the Professional Services Review Committee and the Medicare Participation Review Committee for about 10 years. These committees oversee doctors who have behaved badly. Most of the problems were with documenting and not having good enough records. That was a great learning curve.

 

Medical Benevolent Association

I’ve been on the Medical Benevolent Association Council for 26 years. That’s also been a labour of love because we look after doctors and their families in need and crisis. Over the past 26 years there’s been an enormous change in the needs of those we assist. It used to be doctors with cancers, who had had strokes or road accidents, and we looked after their families. We now have domestic violence, alcohol and drugs, and we have all the other social problems and mental health problems.

 

Sydney University and Western Sydney University

I was involved in the interview processes for prospective doctors at Sydney University and Western Sydney University. Universities have different processes but basically it’s eight interviewers, eight rooms, eight minutes.

That needs to be tickled a bit. We need to look at our workforce and make sure we select people who are willing to be there for the good and the bad, people who will be there for their patients whenever they’re needed. If you’re not going to see patients during a pandemic then you should have gotten into something which was not patient-based.

 

What does receiving the OAM mean to you?

I was very emotional and humbled by it all. You think about all the people who received it before you.

It’s a wonderful thing. Not all countries have the same Honours system that we have, recognising people of all different classes and backgrounds. Some have recognitions like knighthoods but they forget about the people on the ground who do things like volunteer work.

I feel really proud to have received it and my family feels very proud.

I don’t see it as an end point where you’ve got to retire now. I think it’s nice that people are acknowledged when they still have things to offer.

 

What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?

General practice is extremely rewarding because it opens up a lot of avenues. You can do a whole range of things. I’ve now been seeing some families for five or six generations. It’s just so rewarding to know about the family, not only about their physical and mental health, but the social economic side of their life and support them through it.

There’s been enormous change in general practice. When I started at Ray Rickard Medical Centre in 1978 we only had three medications for blood pressure. It was sad to see so many people have massive strokes because we couldn’t lower their blood pressure. We also didn’t have the X-ray equipment, there were no brain scans, no ultrasounds. It was a lot of guesswork.

Men weren’t very responsive to coming to a doctor’s surgery. Our surgery was filled with women and children and the men would only come in when they were 65 and retired. By that time they already had chronic obstructive disease from heavy smoking or prostate cancers. Now men are bringing children in and are much more receptive to doctors

It’s also a pleasure to have gotten to where I am now, at 74, and see practices who have transitioned to a professional way of doing things, with practice managers and staff who are trained, infection control measures put in place – and computers!

It’s been rewarding to see the positive changes – they’ve all been positive because we’re living longer and living a better quality of life.

I’m lucky enough to have a very supportive wife who didn’t see too much of me because of all the different hats I was wearing but made sure my bag was packed and I was ready to go.

 

What is the most important thing you/your practice contributes to this community?

I think it’s the bilinguality. I came here in 1978 when there was a very strong Italian community and even today our staff are bilingual.

We have people who come to our surgery from Serbian backgrounds and Latin American backgrounds. If they speak Spanish and I speak Italian, we understand one another quite well.

I enjoy being able to lock into a culture. They say to me, ‘well, you know what I mean don’t you?’ and I say, ‘yes, I know what you mean’.

Understanding the culture is extremely rewarding and important because patients know you can lock into what they are all about.

 

What do you love most about Fairfield LGA?

Travelling around for my work I see so many practices – some of them are absolutely marvellous, with all the bells and whistles and financially the rewards can be bigger if you work in areas like Rose Bay or North Sydney. But these things never worried me because I’ve gotten to be with my patients throughout their lives, through the good times and bad times.

You get attached to the people and the area.

I’ve been involved with the Fairfield museum and art gallery where I learned about Fairfield and its history. This gave me a great love for the area. It’s got a such a wonderful history. Sir Henry Parkes lived in Canley Vale. I actually did a house call for a lady who lived on the property where Henry Parkes lived.

 

What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?

Good mental health is the number one driver of good health. If you’re depressed you don’t want to leave the house, you won’t exercise, you won’t eat well.

A lot of it’s got to do with Vitamin D. In societies where there’s a lot of Vitamin D around, people are happier. The less sunlight, the more people will get depressed.

So, my message is: get out in the sunlight, exercise and develop a good circle of friends.

I’m going out tomorrow with my wife to have lunch with Ted who’s 103. He hasn’t stopped going out at any time during the pandemic. He says to me, ‘well, why should I? I’ve gone through the Depression, served in the Second World War and the Korean war, I’ve gone through everything’. You’ve just got to get through it.

He’s got this wonderful, positive way of looking at life. I always like to see him because he’s always got a joke for me, he’s always got a sense of humour.

Friends are very important. I say to people if you haven’t got friends go to church, join a group, there’s so much around. There’s an enormous number of activities people can do to feel rewarded.

Loneliness, isolation – that’s the worst possible thing for good health. Sure enough, if mental health goes down the drain, physical health will follow.

Dr Claire Etheridge’s love of all areas of medicine led her to a career as a country GP. Dr Etheridge, who works at Mount Gibraltar General Practice in Bowral, enjoys the variety of her work and educating her patients about maintaining good health.

 

How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in Bowral/the Wingecarribee Shire?

I’ve been in practice in Bowral since I started as a GP registrar in 2013. I’ve done all of my GP training in the area, mostly at Bowral Street Medical Practice which is now Highlands General Practice. I qualified in 2016 as a fully qualified specialist general practitioner. I’ve really only worked here the whole time I’ve been a GP.

 

When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?

I’d always wanted to be a GP ever since I was a very small child, or I knew I wanted to be a doctor. During medical school I enjoyed doing everything, so the most logical choice was to be a generalist. Being a GP also meant I could live in the country which is what I’d always planned to do. I found Coast City Country Training, which at that stage was the training provider for the Southern Highlands. It was a perfect spot for me and my family because my husband could work in the city and I could work in the country.

 

What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?

Seeing a different problem with every patient, meeting a pregnant patient and running through their pregnancy, then meeting their baby and seeing their baby grow up. Also the other end of the spectrum, helping people as they get older to stay independent and helping people who are reaching the end of their lives stay at home. I enjoy being able to work in the hospital when I want to, being able to assist with surgeries when I want to, being able to do procedures. I much prefer being a country GP than a city GP because I can do all those different things.

 

What is the most important thing you/your practice contributes to this community?

Care – we really care about our patients. It’s not so much a job as a calling.

 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I work three jobs so I don’t have a lot of spare time! I’ve been a musician in the local symphony orchestra, I’m a gamer so I also play computer games and I have a motorbike. I also like to hang out with my kids and to travel. I really miss travel – I love to do that.

 

Tell me about your ideal work day…

My ideal workday would be full of interesting procedures to do, catching up with lots of my favourite patients and seeing them improve, and meeting some of the babies I’ve helped care for and seeing how they’re growing up. I also like helping to educate someone on how to improve their own health –so lifestyle and preventative care.

 

What do you love most about Bowral / the Wingecarribee Shire?

I really enjoy how all the doctors work together. We provide a really good after hours service. Pre-COVID we had some of the best education and collegial activities that I’ve ever seen. It’s a little bit different post COVID, but hopefully it’ll come back someday. That’s what I really enjoy, as well as the lifestyle – country close to the city close to the coast.

 

What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?

Keep active, eat real food and don’t be scared to chat to your GP about ways you can improve your lifestyle, your health and wellness.

Dr Konstantin Bosnic from St Johns Park became a GP against the odds but has made the most of every opportunity. Dr Bosnic has had a long and satisfying career treating generations of loyal patients alongside his wife of almost 60 years, Ljubica.

 

How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in St Johns Park/ Fairfield LGA?

I have been a GP for almost 60 years.

I graduated from medical school in 1963, from the University of Zagreb, Croatia and knew from a very young age I wanted to go abroad and build a life that was different to the one my parents had in the former communist Yugoslavia.

In 1964 I arrived in Sydney and was joined by my wife, Ljubica, also a GP, in 1967. Ljubica and I met in medical school, when Ljubica was in first year and I was in third year.

In order to get registered as a medical practitioner I was required to complete a minimum of two years as a resident in hospital followed by a series of examinations. I spent two and a half years at Bankstown District Hospital as the junior and then the senior medical resident, and completed my registration examinations at The University of Sydney covering surgery, obstetrics, general medicine and paediatrics.

At that time Bankstown District Hospital was a small hospital with 320 beds and there was a shortage of residents. We often needed to work 48-hour shifts and over the entire weekend without overtime pay. My fortnightly pay was 14 pounds. For reference, a return train ticket to Melbourne and a week’s stay cost five pounds. You could buy a house in Newtown for 3,000 to 4,000 pounds, and a block of land in St Johns Park for 400 to 800 pounds.

Following registration, I worked as a senior RMO for another year and a half before opening up my own surgery in Newtown. I rented a premises and waited for my first patient to come through the door.

Times were very different then. There were no GP networks, no advertising. All you could do was put a copper plate with your name and your working hours on the door. You built your practice and earned the trust of your patients purely based on the quality of the care you delivered and patient outcomes. It was simple, it was good.

Naturally, we have seen a lot of things change for GPs over the years, for example, our first 10 years of practice were within a healthcare system where there was no Medicare. GPs were private practitioners.

My wife and I were partners in our GP practice and we worked very hard; seven days a week, 12 hours a day. In those early years, most of the immigrants from the former Yugoslavia settled in Newtown, Marrickville, Erskinville and we were the only doctors in the area who could speak their language.

It was a challenge for immigrants in those days. They often did not speak a word of English when they arrived in Australia and there were no free English language courses or government support, no social security, no Centrelink. They came ready to work hard, but it was not easy without speaking English in those days. So as a GP we were really needed by these patients, not only to take care of their health but also to help them assimilate and integrate into Australian society. Our patients were so grateful. I think of those days with such fondness: they were difficult times but so rewarding and most of our patients and subsequently their children and grandchildren have remained loyal patients.

In 1990, we relocated our GP practice to St Johns Park. After so many years, our patients and their families had moved to Western Sydney, yet were still travelling to see us in Newtown. We felt it was time to relocate our practice to better serve our patients. We have been practicing in St Johns Park ever since.

 

When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?

From a young age I aspired to be a doctor. It was following an illness as a child. I grew up in a small village on the island of Korcula in the Adriatic. I was a young boy during World War II, when the former Yugoslavia was occupied by Germans. Everything was scarce (including food) and we were very very poor. When I was seven years old, I became sick with a very high temperature, shivering, vomiting and my parents asked the local doctor to come and see me. Medicine was also scarce, but the doctor came to see me, gave me some medicine and it was like a miracle – the next day I had recovered and was able to run around and play with my friends. I thought ‘how magical is this?’. I decided then that one day, I would become a doctor and help sick individuals, just like this doctor helped me.

From that day on, I never considered anything else, even though, for a young man like me, with delayed schooling due to the war and coming from a village on an island, so removed from education, the major cities and universities, it was not going to be easy. Not to mention the money required to make this happen. You see, my island did not have a high school and so in order for me to get a basic education, let alone university, there would need to be major financial sacrifice, which would impact on my whole family. My family worked hard to save just enough to send me to high school and then university. I lived in the most basic of circumstances, but I was grateful and I promised to make the most of this opportunity.

I think my parents were relieved that, being the youngest of four children, I was the only one who wanted to go to university. I am not sure I would have gotten a chance if my other siblings had the same dreams. But they had other aspirations – they sought a better life by leaving the former Yugoslavia, and while I was studying, my family migrated to Australia.

 

What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?

There are several aspects of being a GP I both love and find satisfying.

I feel very privileged to be such an important part of the lives of my patients. The relationship I have with them is very important to me. I take this responsibility very seriously and get great satisfaction in looking after their health, and supporting them through the challenges they face in life. I love being the ‘family’ GP and treating generations within the one family. The role of a GP is so important, we are the cornerstone of the health in the community. I love helping patients live healthier and happier lives.

I also love solving clinical problems and as a GP we are presented with many, varied and often complex clinical scenarios. It is rewarding to be able to solve these and to find new solutions as medical discoveries and new pharmaceutical offerings become available.

After all these years, I remain passionate about being a GP, about listening to patients, understanding how they feel, and helping them get better.

 

What is the most important thing you/your practice contributes to this community?

Experience (almost 60 years of it), clinical expertise and service. We are here for our community, no matter how big the problem, no matter how long it takes and no matter what time it is. My wife comes home from work at 10pm sometimes because her patients are in need. No one gets turned away. We don’t work by appointment so our patients can walk in any time and they will be attended to.

 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I have always had many interests outside my work.

I have always enjoyed gardening, reading (particularly the classics) and enjoy being active. I have played tennis on a regular basis for many years. For several years, when I was younger, I was very engaged with the State Government through the NSW Ethnic Community Council. I was vice president for five years.

But probably my most enjoyed pastimes outside of work are photography and watching my grandson play basketball.

I have invested a lot of effort in learning photography and refining my skills and it is something I still get a lot of pleasure out of. I love being immersed in the subject of my photos, and over the years I have been on several photographic tours, which have taken me to many different locations in Australia and around the world. I have also taken a lot of photos of my grandson playing basketball.

My grandson is currently a student-athlete (basketball) at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, so I only get to see him play basketball live when we visit or on TV, but since he was a boy he has loved playing basketball. Nothing has given me greater pleasure than taking him to training and watching him play. I don’t think I have missed a single game and I am so proud of him. I look forward to watching him in this coming college basketball season. You should check him out. His name is Grant Anticevich.

 

Tell me about your ideal work day…

My ideal work day! That is an interesting question. I think my ideal day comes from being prepared for the day, ready to tackle it, no matter what may come. I think as a GP it is important to have an open mind, to look beyond the easy or obvious and to be ready for challenges. This requires a particular approach and as long as my approach is right, I know it will be a good day at work.

 

What do you love most about Fairfield?

I love this area because of the people. People in the community of Fairfield come from a range of cultural backgrounds but there are some fundamental things we all have in common. People in Fairfield are down-to-earth, wholesome and genuine. The community is multigenerational and there is a real sense of community. It is such a wonderful part of Sydney.

 

What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?

These days life can be very complex and individuals are under a lot of stress from a young age. So I try to bring some simplicity into their lives. I focus on the importance of both physical and mental well-being and the critical link between the two. I encourage my patients to find pleasure and satisfaction in doing the basics well: good diet, regular exercise, knowing their body and being kind to others.

Now more than ever a holistic approach to life is important and as a GP this is something that I have promoted to my patients for decades.

Dr Richard Allen’s love of general practice increased with his involvement with the RACGP in his early days as a GP. This involvement included collaborating with other GPs to develop a training program and examination for general practice. Dr Allen’s practice is at Fairfield Heights, a region in which he has worked for 40 years.

 

How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in the Fairfield LGA?

I graduated from the University of NSW in 1968. I went to Bankstown Hospital as a resident medical officer for two years then to St Margaret’s Children’s Hospital as a pediatric registrar for two years. I then joined GPs, Dr Muscio and Dr Cronan, in Canley Heights as a partner and started my general practice life. I have been in the area for 40 years and seen many changes. I have been in solo practice in Fairfield Heights for 16 years.

 

When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?

My love of general practice increased with my involvement with the RACGP in my early days. I became a Censor of the college and Chief Examiner for NSW. It was recognised there was no training to be a GP. With other GPs we formed the training program and examination for general practice. I have now withdrawn from these activities and am an Honorary Life Member of the college.

I was appointed as the Director of the Fairfield Division of General Practice in 1994 with the help of Professor Mark Harris. The division involved local GPs in a variety of projects relevant to them and the multicultural needs of the community. We saw the introduction of Hepatitis B vaccine to all babies. Dr John Williams started the Immunisation Recall and Registration Project. This became the national register. Allison Tran was appointed our first secretary in 1994. Allison has made a great contribution and supported general practice in the area. Thank you Allison for continuing to help us especially in the area of CME (continuing medical education).

 

What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?

I see general practice as a very rewarding life, looking after families and patients throughout their lives. My work has now extended into aged care, palliative care, end of life care and addiction medicine.

 

What is the most important thing you/your practice contributes to this community?

We are in very difficult times. The most important thing in general practice is continuity of care and being able to communicate to patients at their level. The most important contribution I have made is my years of practice. I have been very fortunate to practice in Fairfield Heights in Dr Joe Nicholas’ rooms. Joe allowed me to continue as a GP after leaving Canley Vale. I still do a few house calls and attend local nursing homes. My receptionist of 20 years, Mrs Darilyn Morrison, is a vital part my practice. The support Darilyn gives the patients cannot be measured.

 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

In my spare time I like gardening and fishing. I find these interests relaxing.

 

What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?

My advice to patients is to maintain a healthy lifestyle, exercise in moderation and maintain a healthy weight. Everything in moderation.