Australia offers alternative to US hospitals

(Conclusion)

Epworth has a reputation as a training hospital for doctors and nurses. Its postgraduate program is particularly strong in cardiac, neuroscience, spinal, gastroenterology and general medicine. The continuing education programs are conducted through arrangements with the University of Melbourne and Monash University, for doctors, and with Deakin University, for nurses.

The hospital was established in 1920 by John Wesley, a member of the Methodist Church who used to live in an English town named Epworth. In the 1930s, it grew "from a house to a hospital and nurses’ home for training," said Hogg, tracing its history. In the 1970s it became a tertiary hospital, and in the 1990s, it embarked on a major expansion, which included the purchase in 1998 of the Bethesda Rehabilitation Hospital next door.

Today Epworth has more than 500 beds, over 1,000 staff and 1,200 accredited visiting specialists.

Before the end of the year, the Epworth Cancer Center will be opened. The eight-story building will house the latest radiotherapy treatment equipment, which, according to a brochure, will enable radiation oncology specialists to treat cancer patients "by administering precise and directed doses of radiation to cancerous tissue without threat of damage to adjacent healthy tissue."

Traditionally, such facility is located in underground bunkers, causing concern and heightened anxiety among patients undergoing treatment. But Epworth’s facility is above the ground, on the fourth floor, to be exact. Bunkers were specially constructed with about 200 tons of steel plates mixed with the concrete in the floor and ceiling, along with liquid boron, among other elements. (Boron is used in nuclear reactors.)

"The decision to go into radiotherapy treatment was prompted by the increasing number of cancer cases," Hogg said. Cancer is the leading cause of death in the state of Victoria. Nationwide, studies show that one in three Australians may now expect to suffer cancer within their lifetimes.

The Epworth Cancer Center will specialize in brain tumor, as well as prostrate cancer and breast cancer, the leading causes of death among men and women, respectively, Hogg said.

The tour around the hospital yielded two other points of interest. One is that in Australia (at least in Victoria), hospital expenses are determined not by room rates combined with doctors’ fees but are computed as a whole "package," based on factors such as seriousness of the case, the length of time of treatment, and the medicines to be administered.

The other was one particular hospital room – a suite, with all the amenities of a hotel room, besides the hospital equipment. That, according to Sandra Morris of corporate affairs, is where heads of state and other dignitaries as well as international executives are confined.

According to a local newspaper article, Epworth has a growing "international reputation," with patients coming from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, China, even Europe and Oceania – and, yes, the Philippines.

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Epworth Hospital is at 89 Bridge Road, Richmond, Victoria 3121 Australia; tel. no. (613) 9426-6666; website: www.epworth.org.au.