Yass doctor takes her skills to the people - particularly those hungry for care

A few months ago, Yass doctor Hannah Burn asked her friend, Ruth Sneezby, if there was anything she could do to help people who were doing it tough.

Ruth, it turns out, was the perfect person to ask. She works with the Vine Church, and a team of volunteers, providing food for people in need through Community Foodcare.

Adjacent to her house in Yass, Ruth, her husband Colin, and other volunteers collect, store, sell and give away food – and just about everything else bar the kitchen sink, although there is dishwashing liquid – to people who need it.

Both women have seen, recently, a sharp increase in people struggling to cope, be it with feeding and caring for their families, their own health, or just what life has dealt out in general.

“The minute Hannah asked what we needed, I knew straight away,” Ruth said. “We needed her.”

From this Saturday, 3 August, and on the first Saturday of the month from now on, Hannah will be at Yass Community Foodcare offering health advice to whoever needs it.

No judgment, no unnecessary questions and no mounds of paperwork, it will operate like a bulk-billing service where patients don’t have to pay.

“When I asked Ruth what was needed, it was a sort of off-the-cuff type of question, but she knew exactly what I wanted to do and what was needed,” Hannah said.

“My next question was how do we get to the people who really need it.”

The answer was Community Foodcare. It is open every week, offering food to people who need it. People can buy boxes of food or household goods for a small percentage of what it would normally cost through a points system and can then get free fruit, vegetables and bread – whatever else they need.

Food is donated by two of the town’s supermarkets, Aldi and IGA, and it receives private donations as well as buying bulk from the Food Bank in Sydney which delivers to Yass, via a pallet load, once a week.

Managing this operation has shown Ruth that food, though a crucial part of the problem facing many people today, is not the whole story. Sometimes people just need to talk, get advice and, just not worry, at least for a few hours, where the next meal is coming from.

For Hannah, who said she had become increasingly aware that more people were having to choose between buying food for their families or paying bills, offering her care was a given.

“I honestly don’t know how it will go this Saturday,” she said. “We will just wait and see.

“It will be episodic care, like vaccinations, checking if you have a bad chest. I’ll provide physician samples – but I won’t be carrying any drugs – nothing stronger than Panadol.”

The goal is for people who would not normally see a doctor, for whatever reason, to drop by to talk to Hannah. Standard patient-doctor confidentiality will apply and patients with more serious issues will be referred on.

“It’s just all about trying to help people,” she said, “people who really need it.

“We’ll provide a safe place for people to come, give them the sense that they’re coming into a comfortable place where they’ll be welcome.

“The best way to describe it would be like a field hospital,” she said, although there are no plans to have the MASH tune played as background music.

Free refreshments, including hot soup and bread with tea and coffee, will also be available.

Pastor at the Vine Church, Gary Brown, said the new Saturday service was just part of many things the church did to help the community.

“When we first put our toe in the water here in Yass about 10 years ago, we have worked in the community to help people with what they need,” he said. “That’s just what we do.

“With Community Foodcare, we’ve certainly noticed an increase in people’s needs so that’s why we’re here – to help.”

Dr Hannah Burn will be at The Vine Church Community Foodcare, 66 Lead Street, Yass, on Saturday 3 August, from 10 am to 3 pm and then on the first Saturday of the month.