Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Australian of the Year 2010

Jump to new
Julia

Julia

In Memoriam
Joined
10 May 2005
Posts
16,986
Reactions
1,973
Professor Patrick McGorry, Psychiatrist, has been named Australian of the Year.

Good to see the importance of mental health recognised.

I can't help thinking that if a sports person had been successful, someone would have posted this info long before now.

Young Australian of the Year is Trooper Mark Donaldson for his services in Afghanistan, and Senior Australian of the Year is cook Maggie Beer.

http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201001/2801019.htm?desktop
 
I think you're right, Julia. I watched them announce Australian of the year and was very pleased that they chose a scientist for 2010, but I knew he wouldn't get the same level of attention as a sports hero or winner of some reality show would. This thread would probably be a few pages long by now if the winner had been the latest 'Australian Idol' or something. I must admit, even I had never heard of Professor Patrick McGorry before, and I bet by even today most people have already forgotten the name, and if in a few months (days?) you ask random Australians who Australian of the year is they will probably either completely have forgotten or at best will say something like "I think he was some science nerd or something"
 
Maybe great man, but came up with wrong conclusions to my liking.

If detention is so harmful to mental health, instead of letting everybody loose, how about sending them back, so they can take number and wait in a queue as we accept well over 100,000 and we should have say who comes here and it should be done in orderly fashion.
 
I'm also glad to see great Aussies other than sportspeople being recognised. There was a time that Australia all but led the world in scientific progress - I think we've slipped quite a bit in recent years. We seem to find the money to host Commonwealth and Olympic games, extend tennis centres etc, but there are numerous cities crying out for more hospital beds, and many disabled people who can't get appropriate placements/treatment due to our overstretched health system. I'd rather Australia spent a bit less per person on sport and we had a few more coppers out on the streets, or a few more teachers in our schools, or a few more doctors and nurses (and beds) in our hospitals - where they're badly needed. Maybe a bit less spent on ensuring we win our quota of Olympic gold, and a bit more making sure everyone who wants to go to uni gets the opportunity. I love sport too, but we do seem to have a national obsession with it to the detriment of other important needs in our society. Let's make science sexy!
 
I almost fell off my chair when I saw Pat get the award. I was involved in Mental Health (specifically Child and Youth) for a number of years until recently and was constantly reminded by my medical colleagues and the 'institution' how little they valued the area. Now hopefully the Gov. will put some real resources toward psychological and medical interventions rather than the joke it is currently (especially for the Adult population). Cultural change is essential otherwise all the funding in the world will make no difference.

As an example: I was consulted (amongst others) as to where the ward was to located in a 'new' hospital (don't want to mention which one). In the original design the Mental Health ward was to be between a retaining wall and the Plant/Equipment building about 100m from the rest of the hospital (requiring a shuttle bus and security escorts etc). Eventually we got the ward into the main building. It would be unheard of to put a Neurology or Cardiac ward 'offsite' yet the isolation and alienation that both mental health staff and patients experience is endemic.
 
subaru69 said:
...
Eventually we got the ward into the main building. It would be unheard of to put a Neurology or Cardiac ward 'offsite' yet the isolation and alienation that both mental health staff and patients experience is endemic.
Click to expand...


Excuse my ignorance, but Cardiac patients don't attack staff or other patients, so isolation might be beneficial to all involved, (but politically incorrect of course).
 
As a whole people with mental illness are no more likely to be violent than the rest of the population. Think about the drunken morons out on the weekend or the football. In a hospital there are doors on the wards and often these are locked due to requirements under the Mental Health Act anyway, so there is no more risk to the other wards than if the patients were offsite. If you've ever been in a public adult MH ward then you would know that the patients have been turned to stone by nurses that overmedicate to ensure they have quiet shift (this is where I will now get a blast from an RN). So the only risk is the patients drowning in their own saliva.
 
Top