DR Nicole Higgins letter (2/10/24), with statistics relating to mental health issues in the community and the pressure on GPs, should be a wake-up call for the Government to increase its support for mental health services as well as increase in the Medicare rebate for mental health patients.
Earlier in the year The Bunyip published an article about Dr Naomi Rutten (a local GP specialising in mental health) who wanted to set up a not-for-profit mental health hub for Gawler.
This amazing doctor and her husband bought the old convent on Church Hill and set up a Go Fund Me appeal to help renovate the building into a suitable centre for a mental health facility in Gawler.
Unfortunately, this selfless endeavour attracted some negative feedback from the local community (shame on them) and the appeal has had a poor response.
A couple of weeks after The Bunyip ran Dr Rutten’s story, it published an article about an announcement by our Federal MP, Matt Burnell, that the government would be establishing a state-of-the-art mental health facility in Gawler.
Our question is, why can’t the Government finance Dr Rutten’s endeavour instead of duplicating services for political point scoring?
And why is our community not getting behind this vitally necessary venture when the need in the community is so great?
Come on Gawler.
We do it for other charities, so let us get behind Dr Rutten and help to finance a venture which is dedicated to addressing the crisis in mental health in this area.
Jill Polkinghorne, Gawler
