Rabobank brings Heart of Australia to Winton

Rabobank’s Rabo Community Fund has partnered with Heart of Australia on the mobile medical program’s mission to deliver specialist healthcare services to rural and remote communities.

And as part of this partnership, Heart of Australia’s Heart Truck will be offering free basic heart health checks looking at blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels at the Winton Rodeo and Winton Show on Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6.

In addition to the heart health checks, Heart of Australia will be partnering in Winton with the It’s A Bloke Thing Foundation (IABT) to also offer a prostate cancer testing service to eligible men.

Rabo Client Council member and Aramac-based beef producer Lee-Ann Boyd said Heart of Australia’s mission aligns directly with one of the Rabo Community Fund’s key aims to support rural wellbeing initiatives.

“The Rabo Community Fund is focused on supporting meaningful grassroots initiatives that champion health and wellbeing in rural and regional communities, in addition to initiatives that help build industry capacity, access to agricultural education and strengthen the rural-urban connection,” Ms Boyd said.

"The significant work carried out by Heart of Australia sees specialist services and testing offered in rural, remote and First Nations communities, where access to healthcare is often restricted due to geographic distance."

Ms Boyd said she had the chance to visit one of the the Heart Trucks recently in Longreach. “It is a fantastic service and so easy to access, with excellent staff who run the truck,” she said.

Heart of Australia’s Heart Truck 

Since the Rabo Community Fund first partnered with Heart of Australia in 2022, it has helped provide support for 465 health checks in rural and regional communities, including 100 at the FNQ Field Days at Mareeba. Founded in 2014, Heart of Australia has seen over 20,000 patients, regularly serving over 40 communities and potentially contributing to saving 900 lives. 

It is estimated that the seven fit-for-purpose Heart Trucks – custom-designed health clinics-on-wheels – have saved patients more than 54 million kilometres of travel for specialist appointments.

Heart of Australia founder and cardiologist Dr Rolf Gomes said, “over the past few years, we’ve been proud to work alongside Rabobank to deliver preventative health services to rural communities where there are greater barriers in place to accessing medical care”.

“Our collaboration is a practical example of what’s possible when organisations work together to make essential health services easier to reach for country Australians,” he said.

Rabo Community Fund

With a dedicated pool of funding for grassroots initiatives, the Rabo Community Fund supports meaningful community projects.

Since its launch in 2021, the fund has invested more than $4 million in national and local initiatives to help address key agribusiness and community challenges.

Ms Boyd said as a global cooperative, founded by farmers, Rabobank has had a long history of community engagement. “And now, thanks to the Rabo Community Fund, the bank is making an even bigger impact in the communities where its clients live,” she said.

“From supporting health checks in remote areas to providing agri-educational resources for schools and hosting succession planning and financial skills workshops for over 770 farmers, the impact has been far-reaching,” she said.

Heart Truck details:

A walk-in-service is open to anyone in the Winton community.

Dates:             Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6, 2026

Times:             Friday – 2pm to 6pm and Saturday – 8am to 5pm  

Location:         Winton Showgrounds, Vindex Street, Winton

The free preventative health checks – taking approximately 15 minutes each – involve a blood pressure measurement and a blood test for a lipid profile which will assess glucose and cholesterol levels. The tests help determine how the heart is functioning.

In addition to the heart health checks, IABT nurses will also be in attendance to offer a prostate cancer testing service as part of the health checks for eligible men.

For more information or to learn more about the Rabo Community Fund and Rabo Client Councils, visit – Rabo Community Fund | Rabobank Australia

Rabobank Australia & New Zealand Group is a part of the international Rabobank Group, the world’s leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has more than 125 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. Rabobank is structured as a cooperative and operates in 35 countries, servicing the needs of more than nine million clients worldwide through a network of more than 1000 offices and branches. Rabobank Australia & New Zealand Group is one of Australasia’s leading agricultural lenders and a significant provider of business and corporate banking and financial services to the region’s food and agribusiness sector. The bank has 87 branches throughout Australia and New Zealand.