Toyota’s Support For Heart Of Australia

Toyota’s Support For Heart Of Australia

July 28, 2020

Our dealership is proud to be a supporter of the community service initiative, Heart of Australia program which brings much needed medical support to our community.

Heart of Australia brings specialist services to rural communities on three custom-designed clinic-on-wheels delivering monthly specialist medical investigation and treatment clinics to regional, rural and remote area communities across West and Central Queensland.   Without Heart of Australia, patients would need to make the trip to Brisbane to receive these same services, a round trip that could take several days. A trip that was often put off or never taken because of the challenges it presented.

Since it began, Heart of Australia has saved many lives simply by making these medical services available in the bush.  For communities like ours here in our Central Queensland region, Heart of Australia is life-changing and life-saving.

Toyota supports Heart of Australia through the provision of support and commuter vehicles to accompany trucks. Heart of Australia led by Cardiologist, Dr Rolf Gomes said, “The support vehicles also help us to maximise the time the heart trucks are available to deliver medical services in the community. They allow us to perform logistical tasks and to transport our crews and supplies to and from the trucks at the start and end of rotations, removing the need to divert them to Brisbane for crew collections.”

Toyota Motor Corporation’s Senior Manager of Regional Operations, Jason Viney said, “We believe the work that Heart of Australia is carrying out in support of outback families is nothing short of inspirational. Since we first came on board the number of heart trucks has grown and the number of towns and communities they support has grown. Heart of Australia has now seen over 8,000 patients and saved over 350 lives since it started operations. That’s definitely something we want to support and be a part of.”

“Toyota Australia has received such strong support from families and businesses from rural and remote Queensland since we first started selling Toyota vehicles in Australia in 1963. By supporting Heart of Australia, we hope to give back to the communities that have chosen to drive Toyota vehicles for so long.”

Bill Robertson Toyota Dealer Principal, James Robertson said he is incredibly proud of the partnership our dealership has with Dr Gomes and Heart of Australia.  Over time, the support from Toyota has grown, with the Queensland Northern Region Toyota Dealers all banding together to support this program and now providing Heart of Australia with four LandCruiser’s and a Commuter Bus which allow them to transport critical medical supplies, relief Doctors and support crews to the trucks so that the clinics don’t have to leave their route.

The importance of supporters such as Toyota, helps address the issue of isolation and barriers to accessing medical services in remote areas. It’s in our nature, that’s why Toyota proudly supports Australia.

This year, Toyota have partnered with reality TV show, Farmer Wants a Wife, and those viewers tuning into the popular show can view Toyota’s partnership with Heart of Australia in the ad breaks.  To learn more about Dr Rolf Gomes work with Heart of Australia view a special TEDx Talk here and to see more about what Toyota Australia are doing to support our community, view here.