Alstonville Clinic

10/11/2025

Well done to Joni our diabetic educator for running this diabetes clinic and enhancing the health of our Alstonville patients! Here is a short video of her wonderful job helping our patients as interviewed by APNA (Australian Primary Healthcare Nurses Association).

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

03/11/2025

We are having intermittent phone outages this morning. If you need urgent care and are known to our clinic please attend in person if the phone lines are not working.

01/11/2025

We are sad to announce we are soon to farewell 2 valued staff members as they retire - our much loved Narelle from reception and Anne who has been an immense help at our Annexe with memory assessments. We wish them a much deserved happy retirement and we also wish Dr Lydia all the best for her maternity leave! Here is our Nov/Dec newsletter from the desk of our busy Practice Manager and head nurse Janeen.

10/10/2025

Good luck to the runners at The Ox!

03/10/2025

About 20 Australian children are diagnosed every year with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), the deadliest childhood cancer.

DIPG is an incurable tumour that develops in the brainstem, affecting vital functions of the nervous system like breathing, sleeping, bladder control and balance. This devastating disease mainly occurs in children under 12 years of age and with no effective treatment currently available, the average survival is only 10 months following diagnosis.

(See https://www.cancer.nsw.gov.au/research-and-data/cancer-researchers-in-nsw/holly-holliday)

Some of the reception staff, nurses and doctors from the clinic are running an individual or collective 100km grueling run: “The Ox”, next weekend to raise money and awareness for RunDIPG to better the outcomes of patients and families of those
affected by DIPG.

We wish them all good luck and energy for their efforts next weekend!

If you are keen to donate by volunteering time or money to this cause please see the links below.

https://rundipg.org/what-is-dipg/

https://www.theox.au/

What is DIPG? DIPG, or diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, is a type of brain tumour found in an area of the brainstem known as the pons. The name diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma describes how the tumour grows, where it is found, and what kinds of cells give rise to the tumour. DIPG is also known

30/09/2025

From Thursday 16th October we are lucky to have a qualified Audiologist Nick Robson working locally from our Annexe building in Daley St. As he is working independently from our clinic, all appointments are to be made through his mobile number on 0461322765.
“Hear” is some more about him!

Nick Robson – Audiologist
Northern Rivers Audiology

Nick Robson holds a Master of Audiology from the University of Queensland and has over 14 years’ clinical experience. As founder of Northern Rivers Audiology, he provides independent, evidence-based care including hearing assessments, wax removal, tinnitus support, and hearing aid services, with a focus on ethical and personalised care for every patient.

https://northernriversaudiology.com.au/

Wax removal fees: $110 ($55 for pension and concession card holders).
Hearing assessment, hearing aid fitting, hearing aid adjustment/service fees range from: $60-$250. Private health may provide some cover - if hearing is included in their extras package.
Pension card holders are eligible for the Hearing Services Program, which covers the cost of all appointments and provides a subsidy for hearing aids if required. Clients can choose to use that subsidy for standard devices, which are fully subsidised, or put it towards more advanced devices and pay a gap fee (varies dependng on the level of device). Private health may provide some cover towards the cost of devices.

At Northern Rivers Audiology, we provide more than just hearing tests. From wax removal to advanced hearing aid fittings, our care is grounded in expertise, empathy, and evidence.

25/09/2025

The Dementia Inclusive Symposium is being held in Ballina on Friday October 17th for any interested health workers, non-health workers and family/carers/friends of those affected. Speakers with specialist knowledge in the field will be attending.
The importance of social connection will be discussed as well as other updates in this field.

See the link below for tickets and prices.

https://dementiainclusiveballina.org.au/event/dementia-inclusive-ballina-symposium-2025/
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25/09/2025

We have some blank wall space in the Annexe building for some more patient artworks!
If you are a budding artist or a professional and have some suitable art you are welcome to drop it into the clinic for us to display as a loan from you if you are happy to share. You can put your name and contact details next to the artwork if you like in case of any interested viewers!

15/09/2025

The Alstonville Wollongbar Fun Run had good weather and hopefully a good turn out! Here are some familiar-looking Milk and Cookies to complement the multiple cake stalls stocked with yummy cakes and goods baked by volunteers. Well done to the P&C and all the volunteers!

28/08/2025

For those in need there is some help locally for food and grocery items. Please see below.

15/08/2025

Please see attached the August updates for the clinic.
Please talk to your doctor if you are interested in the upcoming Medicare Mental Health counselling that will become available free for Medicare card holders and patients of our clinic towards the end of this month at our Annexe building. Your doctor can do a referral for you and assess your eligibility for this service.

30/07/2025

At least 14 Dementia Risk Factors have been identified in a 2024 Lancet article- with a summary below. Other less frequently mentioned contributing factors may also include sleep apnoea and decreased sleep quality although not yet officially on the list.

For more information on dementia see:

https://www.dementia.org.au/about-dementia/types-dementia