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16/05/2022Rabobank has long taken pride in its strong community values, keeping rural and regional Australia at heart – and now it’s turning its attention towards the hearts of the community, literally.
An initiative of Rabobank’s Rabo Community Fund, the bank recently collaborated with Heart of Australia, a mobile medical program featuring five trucks that travel through rural and remote Queensland providing medical services.
In a very special convoy, a Heart of Australia truck travelled together with Rabobank’s own RaboTruck, visiting Cecil Plains and Moonie, merging knowledge sharing events with health checks.
The collaboration featured presentations with the latest industry updates and insights from RaboResearch senior commodity analyst Cheryl Kalisch Gordon, Murdoch Lawyers director Tony Randall and Rabobank Sustainability and Community general manager Marc Oostdijk.
Throughout the two events, guests were also invited to book in for a free preventable health screening, including blood tests and heart checks – with over 50 clients taking advantage of the service.
Rabobank Sustainability and Community general manager Marc Oostdijk said the initiative was launched to directly respond to the community’s needs.
“The point of the Rabo Community Fund is to support causes that are at the core of the community, and our clients have shared with us the necessity for medical screenings,” Marc said.
“Rabobank’s community support is not just a feel good gesture, it’s the result of ongoing dialogue between the bank and our wonderful client-led Client Council advising us that this is a priority.”
“We are a bank, and obviously we are not medical specialists, but that doesn’t mean we can’t contribute to supporting access to healthcare in rural areas.”
“Increasing farmers’ well-being is one of our Rabo Client Council’s five pillars, and finding unique approaches to support these objectives – and highlighting our ‘Rabo difference’.
Rabo Client Council Chair for Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales, Stuart Armitage, said that despite their busy winter crop sowing schedules, he was pleased to see so many farmers from across the district take advantage of the opportunity.
“I think an initiative like this will definitely save lives, off the back of COVID it hasn’t been easily possible to leave home for health services, so many haven’t had a general health check for a number of years,” Stuart said.
“I’m really proud that as a Client Council, together with the Rabo Community Fund, we were able to deliver this valuable service, and that we can work together as farmers and as a bank to genuinely assist people in rural areas.”
Patsy Cameron of Moonie attended the event and booked in for a health check, and said it was an amazing opportunity for her small community.
“It was so wonderful, Cheryl was exceptional giving the audience insights into the current grain market, she’s a real dynamo, Marc is always so passionate about how the bank can go above and beyond for the community, and Tony Randall touched on lots of pertinent issues and topics that really got people thinking,” she said.
“The RaboTruck is spectacular, and the fact we also had access to the heart truck was ingenious, it was so convenient and really effective making people conscious of their health.”
With community members accustomed to traveling vast distances for services, Patsy said she felt privileged Rabobank had chosen Moonie to host the initiative.
“The collaboration between the RaboTruck and the heart truck really does reflect Rabobank’s commitment to the bush, it was a great collaboration highlighting the bank’s genuine interest in the community and its health – because if people aren’t healthy, everything falls apart.”