For 23 years, Dr Jones has cared for patients at Yass Hospital, supported colleagues, and has been a pillar of the Yass community. His time at the Hospital will come to an end on December 30, but his legacy in town will continue for generations.
Dr Jones’ career began in 1976 as an intern at Woden Valley Hospital and spanned roles in general practice, obstetrics, intensive care, and rural health. In 1977-98, he opened a solo GP practice at the brand-new Wanniassa Medical Centre.
Dr Jones joined Yass District Hospital as a Visiting Medical Officer in 2002 and has been a trusted clinician and mentor ever since.
Beyond medicine, Dr Jones founded Mountain Trails Adventure School in Wee Jasper in 1993 and led programs that supported young people and communities.
In 1987, he served as President of the ACT branch of the Australian Medical Association, and from 2015 to 2019, he extended his care globally, running clinics and community programs in western Kenya.
The Yass Valley Times spoke with Dr Jones about his time and his love for his community, saying he could never live anywhere else.
“When I first started working, I was the first person who wasn’t a local GP who began at the hospital, but it was more traditional that the GPs did that. Over the years, the whole GP structure has changed, and we’ve had to fill the hospital cover by recruiting either permanent or regular people or locums to fill the gaps in the roster.
“That’s been a challenge. Now it’s harder to find GPs in town, especially ones who want to do the hospital work.
“I do enjoy working in Yass. Certainly, country towns are very different to big city hospitals because the chances of people knowing each other are much greater.
“I noticed that when people came to visit patients in hospital, they would often visit more than one person and often they would be back the next week visiting someone different, so in so many ways, that doesn’t give you as much privacy, but it gives you a feeling of belonging and it’s a dependency as opposed to independency in a tough time.
“Fifty years ago, I came to do my internship in what was then known as Woden Valley Hospital. I was only coming for a year to this region, but then I stayed on in Canberra. I’ve always lived in rural areas outside of the city. I had a general practice in the south of Canberra for about 16 years. I went part-time as a GP at the end of that, and I was a part of a group that started a kids’ mission, called Mountain Trails, out at Wee Jasper, so that brought me to this region.
“I was doing a part-time doctoring in Canberra, and then I received a phone call from the manager in Yass saying, Would you like to do some work here? I said, Oh, yes, I will have a go.
“Of course, the demographics of Yass have changed in 20-odd years. We’re more of a suburb of Canberra these days because there are a lot of people who have jobs in Canberra and quite sensibly want the quiet country lifestyle that happens here.
“It used to be all farmers back 23 years ago, but now it’s all farmers and all the support industry for a rural community.
“With the growth of the population, there has been a huge increase in the need for emergency department hospital beds. It was a fairly quiet weekend when I worked originally, but now our shifts are normally half a day. It’s just that the workload has drastically increased. The technology and medicine over my 50 years of being a doctor have been so radical, with scans, drugs and procedures, so much has changed.
“On the whole, it’s a very general community. People are friendly, and on the whole, people are appreciative too when you are trying to help them.
“That applies to anything in a medical role or to another person in the community. People will help you out if they can, but it’s not quite the insulated type of community that you often find in the city.
“From a medical point of view, I’ve learnt my trade, I’ve practised my trade, and I’ve made a few people better.
“There’s also nothing like the experiences over time that teach you how to do things better and so on. I’m better at this now than I was when I first graduated at the age of 23.
“Up until recently, my health has been pretty top-notch. I’ve got issues now that slow me down, and that’s what has made pulling out of the hospital work necessary.
“I’ve returned the favour in terms of having the opportunity to go to the university and have a vocation in medicine.
“I will be finishing in another four weeks. 30th of December, I will be leaving the hospital for the last time as a healthcare provider, and then I will become a healthcare consumer.
“We had a dinner because on the 30th of December, half the people are off on holiday, distracted with Christmas. That’s why we had a little dinner last week, saying nice things about me. It’s the people you work with. We’ve got a really wonderful team of nurses and doctors and cleaners and cooks, and it’s a pleasure to work with people. That’s a great bonus.
“The other thing I’ve done that brought me to this region was the Trails Adventure School, but it’s a mission for kids, getting them out into the bush and getting them doing challenging stuff, just in terms of letting them grow up in a better environment than the shopping mall.”
If you see Dr Jones around the community, say g’day and thank him for the work he’s done for the community.
– Jack Murray
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