WHEN Melbourne-based doctor Graham Cato decided to open a clinic in Balnarring around 43 years ago, the best indicator that he and his wife had made the right move was the area’s unquestionable sense of community.
Cato, who retired at the end of November, says that after four decades of providing GP services to Balnarring and patients as far away as Flinders and Red Hill, the warmth and openness of the communities remains the highlight of his career.
“When we decided to start up a practice in an empty shop in Balnarring in 1979, the area was so quiet you could shoot a cannon across the car park,” he said.
“But one thing stood out, and that was the friendliness of everyone we met, and that strong sense that this was a community.”
Cato, who received an Order of Australia in 2014 for his work in community health and life saving, including being a founding member of the Association of Developmental Disability Medicine, and running a weekly clinic at a residential home for the intellectually disabled for the past 30-plus years, says he has loved every minute of his career on the peninsula, and cherishes the memories of the people he has met.
Not that there have not been heart-stopping moments of stress and panic – and not just with patients – to test his commitment.
“When I started there were no ambulance serviced to outer lying areas like Flinders, so many times in the early days I would be racing out to save people who would otherwise have died,” he said.
“I’ve resuscitated many, many patients, including several who have walked into the clinic and just collapsed.”
Other life-saving memories have included his own.
“I remember we were living in Shoreham and I got an urgent call from Balnarring, but I couldn’t get there quickly because roadworks had left mud all over the road,” he said.
“I was going as fast as allowed but suddenly hit the mud and did a full 360-degree spin on the road, it was pretty scary but I just kept going and got there to do the job.”
It’s not surprising that Cato will be missed on the peninsula. Not long after moving to the region and starting the Balnarring Medical Centre, Cato became heavily involved in a number of community groups, volunteering his services to the Crib Point Football Club, Balnarring Rotary and the tennis club, Surf Life Saving Victoria, and the board of The Bays hospital in Hastings.
He is also known for his has advocacy for outer Melbourne communities and tireless work to improve services, including his lasting legacy of helping to develop Victoria’s Westpac helicopter rescue service, which each year provides an essential life-saving service to hundreds of people.
His presence at Balnarring Medical Centre will be missed, as will his infectiously positive personality that made him a favourite with patients and colleagues.
First published in the Western Port News – 13 December 2022
