The Circle Foundation is an Australian-first preventative healthcare centre focusing on chronic illness in the Eurobodalla

When looking for somewhere to start the Australian-first program, they decided the Eurobodalla was the obvious location.

A Circle study revealed almost half of the 40,000 residents in the Eurobodalla suffer from chronic health conditions and the the rate of people dying with chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease, dementia or Parkinson's disease in the Eurobodalla was above the state and national average.

Circle wants to reverse those statistics through rethinking how health is provided in the community and focusing primarily on the patients' needs.

"There's nothing like it in Australia - it's a completely new concept," Circle chairperson Margie O'Tarpey said.

She retired to Tuross Head 18 months ago, and has quickly become involved in seeing the Circle vision become a reality.

READ MORE:

"I am interested in social justice and community development... I realised this was my tribe," she said.

Ms O'Tarpey gave a real-life case study of how Circle would operate. Consider a 50-year-old single women living by herself in a rental in the Eurobodalla who suffers from schizophrenia. She is obese and develops chronic obstructive airways disease - she finds it difficult to breathe. She is socially isolated with no friends nor family, and develops cancer. The overlap of illnesses makes this a complicated case for the current health system.

"That is the sort of problem no one deals with and no one supports," Ms O'Tarpey said.

She thinks the health system today is too fragmented - with professionals operating in different areas and not communicating in a patient-first approach.

"What we really need is a health system that is integrated, is holistic, and deals with the person as the centre," she said.

Circle would provide an integrated range of services, including an allied health team, a psychologist, physiotherapist, dietician and occupational therapist. It would also include community workers and social prescribing - building community habits promoting healthy lifestyles, for example, starting a river walk or run group along the Moruya River to facilitate exercise and social interaction.

Circle will offer "wrap around services to meet her need," Ms O'Tarpey said.

The new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital will provide care for patients when they are sick, but Ms O'Tarpey sees the role of Circle to prevent hospitalisations.

"Let's get early intervention and early prevention before they get into the hospital," she said.

Currently Circle is in the proof of concept stage, having been awarded a grant by Foundation For Rural & Regional Renewal to construct a website and carry out community consultation. Mr O'Tarpey is working to secure funding to enable the centre to open.

Ms O'Tarpey said the centre would quickly becoming economically viable, but needed funds to begin.

As a social enterprise cooperative, Circle would be owned and operated by the community, with profits funneled back into the centre.

At the Eurobodalla Regional Hospital community consultation meeting in Moruya on March 18, Ms O'Tarpey asked the panel about the possibility of co-locating Circle at the new Eurobodalla hospital - her dream scenario.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said Circle provided "another dimension" to co-locating educational facilities and hospitals.

"Your concepts are very good concepts," Mr Hazzard said. "I am really excited about what you are talking about."

Ms O'Tarpey said most people she spoke to were excited about the idea, including potential patients and health employees. Circle will begin operating as soon as they can obtain funds.