Over the past 20 years, I have travelled the length and breadth of Australia, working with families, schools and communities to build awareness around how to raise healthy children.
I once toured Western New South Wales (NSW) and visited 15 towns in 15 days, from Broken Hill to Lightning Ridge, Coonamble and Dubbo. I have worked from the Northern Rivers down to South Coast NSW, plus made several trips inland to Griffith and Wagga Wagga. I have worked in Kununurra, Tom Price, Broome, Karratha, Port Hedland and right down south of Western Australia (WA) in Albany and Esperance. In the Northern Territory, I have been out to Katherine and have spoken in Darwin to folks from many remote communities. And I have been to many other places in between.
What I have discovered is that children's needs are the same everywhere. They need strong and loving grownups who feel safe and deeply bonded to them. They need environments that allow them the freedom to explore and play. They need educational opportunities in early childhood and schools. Importantly, children also need easy access to high-quality medical care when they need it.
Sadly, I have heard stories of the dire consequences of being unable to access medical care, especially urgent medical care, for precious children right across this land.
I was born and raised in the wheatbelt of WA, and when I was a child, we had a wonderful local GP who looked after our community for over 30 years. For serious emergencies, we were only two hours from Perth, where there were many extremely well-equipped hospitals. We were lucky compared to many.
Maggie Dent
I have had families tell me how important the Royal Flying Doctor Service is in getting sick and injured children to hospital and how rural hospitals sometimes lack the equipment so readily available in city hospitals. That is unfair.
I get incredibly frustrated when I hear of advances in high-quality, innovative medical care in our capital cities when many regional hospitals lack basic equipment, expertise and staff. Given that 28% of Australians live remotely, they should matter too.
Every child matters regardless of where they live, how much money their parents have, or what culture they are part of.
I am a proud supporter of, and donor to, the Humpty Dumpty Foundation because I want to help regional hospitals get the best equipment possible to ensure that each child who needs medical help gets it. The imbalances in our healthcare system must be addressed.
One of my sons and a daughter-in-law are doctors committed to rural medicine. My hope is that when they need to reach for equipment to save a child's life, they will find it in their local hospital – with a high likelihood it would have been donated by Humpty and its generous supporters.
By Maggie Dent
Parenting author, educator and host of the award-winning ABC podcast Parental As Anything.