Meet our Lighting Up Lives Ambassador

On a wall near the entrance of Gippsland Radiation Oncology at Latrobe Regional Health, is a plaque featuring the name ‘Professor Barry Dunstan’.

It was an honour bestowed on the then chair of LRH’s board of directors who made a significant contribution to the planning and development of Gippsland’s first cancer care centre which opened in 2006.

Having your name on a wall however, makes no difference to an insidious disease like cancer. After a prostate cancer diagnosis, Barry found himself passing that plaque every day for eight weeks on his way to treatment at Gippsland Radiation Oncology.

“It wasn’t a difficult procedure but it was every day for 40 days. There are some fantastic people in there and they’ve all got incredible senses of humour,” Barry said.

As a board director for 10 years, Barry lobbied governments and advocated for specialised medical care and treatments at LRH. His ‘build it and they will come’ approach was part of a strategy to entice specialists and healthcare professionals with advanced skills to work in Gippsland.

“If you get the latest equipment here, people rate you by that. Every little advance in a system adds shape, it adds colour, it makes it interesting and exciting for staff and the public,” Barry said.

“I think with the cancer care centre, we got the attention of locals, and people in Melbourne took notice as well. That’s important for a community like ours which might feel forgotten.”

While his tenure on the board ended in 2010, Barry remains a passionate supporter of LRH and its quest to bring new services to Gippsland. He has graciously accepted an invitation to be an ambassador for LRH’s appeal ‘Lighting up Lives’ to raise money for urological laser surgical equipment.

Learn more about the holmium laser technology here

Current LRH board chair Linda McCoy welcomed Barry’s involvement.

“Barry’s trailblazing leadership set the wheels in motion for a new era of healthcare in Gippsland, where local people could get treatment as close to home as possible. I’m pleased we have been able to deliver on a vision to give people greater access to care and provide an environment where health professionals are able to grow and learn,” Linda said.

About Lighting up Lives

The Lighting up Lives appeal is aiming to raise $280,000 to purchase the latest laser equipment to blast away kidney and urological stones. The laser system can also be used to treat an enlarged prostate.

If you’ve ever had kidney or bladder stones, you would understand how painful they can be when they start to move around your urinary system. Up to eight per cent of Australians may experience these nasty little deposits.

Similarly, men with an enlarged prostate may suffer discomfort when it blocks urinary flow from the bladder.

Urologist, Dr Sarah regularly sees patients in Gippsland with these conditions at Latrobe Regional Health’s consulting suites in Traralgon. While some patients are able to be treated locally, others are sent for surgery 90 minutes away in Berwick.

“Our patients don’t just live in Traralgon, they sometimes live two to three hours away. To travel to Berwick is not only difficult for the patient but also their families who care for them. It means they can’t visit them in hospital and it’s a huge journey to pick them up and bring them home,” Dr Azer said.

The urology team at LRH is seeking your support to help purchase the latest holmium laser system so patients are able to have their surgery in Traralgon. The laser blasts and breaks up stones in the bladder, ureter and kidney and can be used to treat men with an enlarged prostate.

“In simple terms, the laser is used to core out the middle of the prostate. My colleague Mr Trung Pham is trained in the HoLEP (Holmium Laser Enucleation of Prostate) procedure which is very effective and with a short recovery,” Dr Azer said.

“Laser technology has come a long way in the past five years and the latest laser machine is extremely powerful. With shorter operating time to clear big stones, we are able to treat more patients.”

How to double your donation

Join our exciting campaign to bring the latest laser equipment to LRH for the benefit of all our Gippsland patients.

Your gift to us will be matched, dollar for dollar by three amazing companies: BGIS, Weblease and Gippsland Motor Group.

That means, every donate will be doubled. If you contribute $25 it becomes $50. Your $100 donation increases to $200 and $1,000 magically turns into $2,000!

Every dollar will take us closer to our $280,000 target to purchase a Holmium Laser System to blast away painful kidney and bladder stones and reduces the discomfort of an enlarged prostate.

Your matched gift today has twice the power to light up lives!

Donate here