Dr Rolf Gomes still remembers the sliding doors moment that set him off on his career as a cardiologist, an almost three-decade long journey that would lead to his recognition as Queensland’s 2026 Australian of the Year.
Working for a petrochemical company in Melbourne in the ‘90s, he remembers his heart not quite being in the engineering field.
“When I looked back on my high school [days], what I really loved the most was just chatting to people. I love people more than computers; I thought, if I’m going to make a decision, I better make it now,” Dr Gomes recounts to Indian Link.
“I left my job, applied for the GAMSAT to get into medicine, and I guess the rest is history!”
His sensitivity to people’s wellbeing meant he quickly spotted a major gap in frontline healthcare accessibility while working as a junior doctor in regional Queensland.
“Where I ended up, you are at the coalface. Having just come from the Royal Brisbane Hospital Emergency Department, it is chalk and cheese in terms of what you have at your fingertips to diagnose and treat your patients,” Dr Gomes describes.
“Stress testing’s the bread and butter of what cardiologists do, trying to diagnose people with chest pain – these were things which had existed for decades, but were essentially non-existent in regional areas in Queensland.”
But what was most frustrating was the lack of action to deliver equitable healthcare services. And so in 2014, this one-time Kolkata lad took matters into his own hands, finding an innovative solution combining his engineering expertise with his desire to help people.
“I was left with this question – if you have someone 1000 kilometres out of the city talking to you about pain in their chest and they need a stress testing service, how do you give that person that opportunity?” he recounts.
“It required finding a way to bring the specialist as well as the entire toolbox with them out into these communities. The things I was interested in, treadmills, ultrasound machines, you can’t fit any of those in a suitcase on a plane – so why not the back of a truck?”
Following your heart into regional Australia
Dr Rolf Gomes’ idea of a state-of-the-art clinic on wheels, these days known as the Heart of Australia Heart Trucks, was simple in theory, but took years of graft; he even re-mortgaged his house at one point.
“I was newly married, two kids, one on the way, just starting a fledgling private practice and then borrowing a lot of money, basically… It’s not for everyone. You do need to have an appetite for risk and a bit of courage. But I thought it was a calculated guess,’’ he reveals.
Ten years in, the Heart of Australia fleet has grown to six trucks, and is preparing to expand nationally, partnering with the Federal Government to deliver their National Lung Cancer Screening Program, and pioneering the world’s first battery powered CT scanner.
Having seen over 20,000 patients, the Heart of Australia trucks have proven to be a viable model for regional towns to access specialist services.
“I remember I was in Winton and a fellow walked up and he said, ‘this is just fantastic. I just live 170 kilometres down the road,’ which is an interesting comment you don’t hear in your city practice – but that’s the difference it made,” Dr Gomes recalls.
“Even travelling 170 kilometres each way was better than what they would face otherwise, which would be a couple of days away from their work and families, the cost of accommodation, flights, etc – if you’re 85 years old and walking with the frame, you’re just not going to make the trip.”
By far the biggest impression has been on the thousands of everyday Australians who finally felt noticed.
“A lady I saw in Hughenden – around the time when Western Queensland was in a terrible drought, the suicide rates were high, it was quite a sad, desperate situation – told me everything which was going on with their family and the economic struggles,” Dr Gomes narrates.
“But she began by saying this comment: I thought I could tell you because you’re obviously someone who cares… I always found that touching, because I think a lot of people out in these areas feel like they are forgotten. Here’s someone who has gone to a bit of effort to do something specifically for country patients, to give them an equal chance at a long and healthy life, and they feel like someone out there does give a damn.’”
“It makes people feel uplifted and like they’re not alone. When these trucks roll into town, I always think it’s a reminder that there’s a connection there, whatever their struggles are out in the regions.”
Taking heart
Dr Rolf Gomes admits the ‘tyranny of distance’ still persists these days when it comes to accessing frontline healthcare services, and our healthcare system needs to embrace private partnerships.
“Where Heart of Australia visits, we’re not a choice of public or private service. We are the only local service,” he stresses. “If we really believe in equity in access to healthcare, we have to be able to facilitate that and not be limited in our mindset that this is a private offering as opposed to a public offering.”
He hopes Heart of Australia can evolve into a flagship program like The Royal Flying Doctors Service, as a sustainable framework for all forms of specialists to extend to the regions.
“What the program’s done is it’s shifted the conversation from whether you’re willing to commit and go live in one of these areas, to whether you can contribute to the answer,’’ Dr Gomes says of the clinicians on board Heart of Australia trucks who help out on the routes whilst having their own city practices.
“This is a conversation I would like to see some of the professional colleges get behind, and really start making it an exercise where we look in the mirror and say, at the end of the day, we have an issue with a lack of specialists in these areas.”
Dr Rolf Gomes is proud of the journey he’s had, and for following his instincts all those years ago.
“My existence on a day-to-day basis is very fulfilling. People say you must work long hours. If that means I’m working on this, I don’t see that as an issue,” he shared.
“I’ve just been very fortunate to have followed my curiosity down this path. I’ve encouraged my kids to do the same… listen to yourself and find something which consumes you basically.”
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