Connected Cardiology was first established in 2019, with the goals of:
- removing barriers to accessing specialist cardiac care for disadvantaged groups, including regional Victorian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and female patients – through outreach and telehealth services
- providing cardiology care with respect and compassion for all our patients
- developing strong links with local health and chronic disease management services as well as cardiac rehabilitation
- promoting heart health within the community and providing education to medical practitioners about heart issues
The name “Connected” was chosen because this spoke to our aims of achieving connectedness of all types – empathic and compassionate connection with our patients, digital connection with regional Victoria via telehealth, connection with our referrers and the community through education.
Our first patients were seen at Carlton North in November 2019. A video telehealth service was established to improve access for regional Victorian patients. Little did we suspect that these telehealth services would be in enormous demand within only a few months, with the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020!
Throughout widespread disruption to cardiology services, we continued to provide telehealth and outreach services to support patients in regional Victoria – and our services grew significantly throughout the pandemic.
Our first Shepparton Cardiology Outreach clinic was established in November 2020, and our Cobram Cardiology Outreach clinic in January 2021. We welcomed our practice nurses and commenced cardiology nurse practitioner and echocardiography outreach clinics in 2021, supported by funding from the Rural Workforce Agency of Victoria.
After relocating our base from Melbourne to Shepparton in 2022, we continue to work alongside local general practitioners and health services to provide patients within the Goulburn Valley with specialist cardiology advice and in 2023 opened our very own Connected regional investigative hub in the heart of Shepparton. We host a monthly arrhythmia clinic via telehealth and have established referral networks with other cardiologists within regional Victoria and Melbourne who provide services such as coronary angiography and pacemaker insertion.
We now provide
- Cardiology clinics at Shepparton
- Electrocardiography (ECG), Holter, Heartbug and Ambulatory Blood Pressure (ABP) Monitoring at Shepparton
- Echocardiography at Shepparton and Numurkah
- Stress Echocardiogram at Shepparton
- Cardiology Nurse Practitioner Outreach clinics to Shepparton (supported by RWAV)
- Cardiology Outreach clinics at Cobram (supported by RWAV)
- Echocardiography Outreach service to Numurkah (supported by RWAV)
- Cardiology video telehealth consultations
- Cardiology nursing support and education between appointments
We feel privileged to provide cardiac care to patients from many towns across the Goulburn Valley and into lower New South Wales. We also greatly enjoy our role in health promotion and cardiology education in these areas.