Over 50 Griffith residents attended a community meeting on Thursday organised by Royal Far West in conjunction with Charles Sturt University and Fairfax Media to discuss experiences and issues with services.

Addressed by a diverse panel sharing their expertise and experience, including Professor Adrian Piccoli, Member for Murray Austin Evans, Royal Far West (RFW) Director Katherine Burchfield, Principal of St Patrick’s School Sandra Campbell, Griffith Pediatrician Dr Maxwell Hopp and Griffith parent Laura Cappello.

 Above all, one of the main issues of concern was about resources, in particular being able to attract health professionals to the city.

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With those in attendance sharing their experiences with RFW, Ms Burchfield said it was “heartwarming” to hear those stories.

“It’s great to hear those who have come to Royal Far West and accessed those services, but it is also really challenging to hear about the gaps and struggles that they face.”

Mrs Capello shared her experience with her daughter who was diagnosed with ADHD, sensory processing disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.

“We were lucky that we picked up on something when she was about three and a half and at the time, we thought there may be something that isn’t quite right, but then who do you go to to say this three year old I think is not behaving appropriately for her age group?” Mrs Capello said.

“I think it’s really hard being in a regional area where it’s not given to you on a platter. So for parents, please be proactive for your children – You will need to make the phone calls, and no-one's going to tell you exactly where to go.”

After visiting Community health, GP’s, psychiatrists and many other health professionals as well as consulting Google, hearing about RFW from a friend was

“At the end of the day going to RFW was the best option, and then from there the problem we had was coming back to Griffith and accessing what she needed from here.”

“I think that is one of the biggest problems is that kids are coming to school not diagnosed earlier because it is so hard to find out where to go and what to do.”

Dr Hopp outlined the importance of catching developmental issues early.

“Once they get to school, it is too late. Those children will never catch up,” he said.

“In Griffith what we see is a number of children who are vulnerable and what we know is that it doesn't matter how much money, funding, NAPLAN tests you do once you get to school, if you don’t catch those issues before they get there those children are never going to be able to catch up.”

To combat this, he says to start anti-natal and post-natal screening, following up with General Practitioners and accessing other services from there.

Ex-education minister and professor Adrian Piccoli said there needed to be a closer working relationship between health services and schools.

“Schools do a great job at delivering education and I sympathise... because there is this community expectation that all of these answers are able to be provided by schools. But when children turn up at 9am, they are all turning up with a completely different range of issues,” Mr Piccoli said.

Mrs Campbell said after her extensive experience teaching in the town, there was more schools could do, but they do the best they can as it stands.

“Griffith is a very multicultural town which brings riches and rewards, but it also brings lots of challenges. We are finding that the children that are presenting in our school mostly now, do in fact attend preschool, which has only happened just recently, and that has made our task a lot easier,” Mrs Campbell said.

“However sometimes those people don’t access the kinds of service for early diagnosis when there is a problem, which means as educators, if we detect a problem, sometimes it is very difficult to access services, and to get diagnosis.”​

Mr Evans said the government was working on a few initiatives to attract health professionals to regional towns, and said he would put focus on achieving their goals.

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While solutions were not discussed in detail, Ms Burchfield said coming to the community was an excellent way to gauge their main concerns, and to figure out where to go from here.

“We didn't talk a lot about solutions, but I think there is something to work on – more integration with the health and education side of things,” Ms Burchfield said.

Mr Piccoli said resources were key, going beyond throwing money at issues.

“You need the resources, and I don’t necessarily mean the dollars. Funding is important, yes, but it’s not exactly raining pediatricians in the area,” Mr Piccoli said.

“We are lucky enough to have Dr Hopp, they are not easy to find, occupational therapists, the additional allied health professionals let alone school counselors, psychiatrists, all those kinds of things schools would love to have access to.”