Community
14 October, 2022
Cow Bay Health Clinic To Receive $14.8M Overhaul
BETWEEN pythons in the dunny and cassowaries charging at windows, being a clinician in the world’s oldest rainforest comes with its own unique challenges.
“We’ve had snake skins in our rafters, and goannas and pythons in the toilet,” said Michele Lamond, the Director of Nursing at Cow Bay Primary Health Centre, located in the heart of the Daintree Rainforest.
“We also had to install some lattice work against the windows of the clinic because we had a cassowary that kept wanting to hit its head against the glass, because it could see itself.”
To help make Michele’s job a bit easier, the Queensland Government has funded a $14.8 million upgrade of the Cow Bay Primary Health Centre.
This will include a brand new, purpose-built building and helicopter landing pad.
Michele, who has been providing healthcare to people north of the Daintree River since 1998 (starting out of the back of a Holden car), said the whole community was excited about the new clinic, which is hoped to be completed within the next 2-3 years.
“Everyone is talking about it, saying it’s the best thing to ever happen to this community,” she said.
The former timber council building will no longer house the health clinic with a newly constructed modern structure with all the conveniences planned to be constructed.
Michele said the new clinic would be designed to – hopefully – be ‘rainforest proof’, to protect staff and patients from the elements and rainforest denizens that sometimes find their way onto the site.
“It’s very entertaining working here – every day is different,” she said. “It’s a lovely place to work, and the community is fabulous.”
