Doctor has the right medicine

Hedland doctor Pascall Burton has been honoured for his longstanding commitment to Aboriginal medical services in the community.

The award for Remote and Clinically Challenging Medicine was presented to Dr Burton by WA Governor, His Excellency Malcolm McCusker, at the Rural Health Doctors’ Service Awards.

Dr Burton has been a permanent doctor with Wirraka Maya for more than 14 years and has helped the clinic grow from a small facility with only one phone and two workers to a large “super clinic”.

His wife, and child health nurse, Andrea Burton said her husband was a shy and modest man but quietly proud of receiving the award for his work.

“He doesn’t ever boast about the work he does; he often goes above and beyond the call of duty to ensure his patients are OK,” she said.

“We often have people coming to our home with nowhere else to go when they are discharged from the hospital at 2am, one of us would either call a taxi or drive them home ourselves.

Mrs Burton said many of the patients had become like family, so it was not an imposition.

Wirraka Maya assistant clinic manager Helen Robertson said Dr Burton had forged a strong relationship with the community, which helped to ensure patients got the treatment they needed.

“Patients feel comfortable coming to the clinic, they have a huge deal of trust with Pascall and often won’t trust other specialists unless he says it’s okay,” she said.