The success of Molong's Waluwin Community Health Centre has been highlighted at a national innovation conference in Melbourne.
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The unique development and ongoing expansion of the complex was showcased at the National Innovation as Leadership in Local Government Conference.
Cabonne Council's Communications and Media Officer Dale Jones presented a case study on the project which won the 2011 Australian Local Government Award for Innovative Infrastructure and was described as the "pinnacle of best practice in rural health delivery" when it was opened four years ago.
Mr Jones told the conference the Waluwin Centre had gone from strength to strength and now consisted of five general practitioners, fitness leader, community health workers and child and family nurses, as well as providing speech therapy, optometry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry and psychological services.
The centre also provides pathology services five days a week and is the headquarters for Cabonne Council's Family Day Care and Family Links services.
It broke new ground with an innovative $3.6 million funding partnership between the Federal Government, State Government, Cabonne Council, health service providers, local residents and community organisations as diverse as the Country Women's Association and the Anglican Church.
"The project was conceived by Cabonne's former General Manager Graeme Fleming during a study trip to Africa in the early 2000s when he witnessed the inclusive ways in which communities cared for each other, particularly villages ravaged by AIDS," Mr Jones told the conference.
"Mr Fleming began working on a plan to bring the Molong community together to deliver health services so sadly declining in many country towns.
"Along with hard working community members such as Mrs Essie Sullivan, he was the driving force in bringing the dream to a reality."
One of the aims of the Waluwin Centre was to reduce the need for residents of Molong and nearby villages of Manildra, Cudal, Cumnock, Yeoval and Euchareena to travel to larger regional centres for treatment.
"Now the reverse is happening, with regular patients travelling from Orange, Dubbo, Parkes and Gulgong to be treated at Waluwin," Mr Jones said.
