Bindoon’s Meg Bradford-Seeley was on the high seas when she received news that she was a nominee for an Order of Australia Medal, for service to community health in Western Australia, in the 2018 Australia Day awards.
Ms Bradford-Seeley said it wasn’t until mid-December that the amazing news was confirmed.
“I was stunned but at the same time very excited and humbled.”
“The hardest part was having to keep the news confidential from family and friends until Australia Day,” she said.
Ms Bradford-Seeley’s journey in community health began in 1962 when she started her general nursing career in Footscray Victoria followed by a qualification in midwifery at the same hospital.
Over many years she acquired invaluable experience in community health that lead her to taking a big step into nursing in Aboriginal communities in the remote areas of central Australia.
Among her many achievements, Ms Bradford-Seeley is a qualified pilot and owned her own plane that she used to fly to the many locations where she attended to the health care of the residents. “Flying opened up a whole new world for me.”
“In such remote areas I met many highly qualified medical people who were dedicated to caring for the health needs of Aboriginal people,” she said. Ms Bradford-Seeley was also a flight nurse specialist with the Royal Flying Doctor Service working out of Alice Springs and Jandakot and providing locums for several other country posts. Her flight log book records that she has flown 600 hours.
Once she retired, Ms Bradford-Seeley continued to follow the path of community nursing and after completing two courses at university in 2010 she became a skin cancer screening consultant. She now works voluntarily with the Lions Skin Cancer Institute.
“We go into areas where people don’t have access to cancer screening,” she said.
An active member of the Bindoon community, Ms Bradford-Seeley is currently working to improve nursing and post-op services for local residents. “I’m liaising with Shane Love MLA to improve services. “Bindoon doesn’t fit in with either the rural or urban criteria and there is an urgent need to improve speed of service and availability of care,” she said.
Ms Bradford-Seeley said she would appreciate hearing from anyone who is experiencing difficulties is this area.
It would appear that there is no slowing down for Ms Bradford-Seeley as she goes in to bat for improved health care in the Shire of Chittering.
