Beyond the Uniform - Michael Kidd AM
/in conversation with Sharon Kendall
Professor Michael Kidd AM (OTG 1977) is an academic, primary care researcher, educator and clinician. As well as his numerous other roles, he is the current Principal Medical Advisor and Deputy Chief Medical Officer with the Australian Government Department of Health, and Professor of Primary Care Reform at the Australian National University. He is also an Old Trinity Grammarian and a member of Trinity’s Gallery of Achievement. We are fortunate that he was able to speak to Sharon Kendall, Alumni and Community Relations Coordinator, during what may be the busiest time in his professional career.
What prepared you for your new role and particularly for the COVID 19 pandemic?
Each new role is an accrual of all the experiences which you have had throughout your life. An advantage is that I have been in roles such as President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners; I also have a lot of networks and know people around the country. Of course, at a time of a national emergency, people are very generous with their time and willing to provide assistance. Some of the global experience I have had is also invaluable. For three years I lived in Toronto, one of the cities which was badly affected by the SARS outbreak of 2002-3, so there was a lot to learn from Toronto (as there was in Hong Kong and Singapore) about how a nation, and a city and a health system respond to a very serious pandemic. I was able to bring some of those understandings back to Australia when we were preparing early on in the pandemic for the elements of Australia’s national response.
What does a day in your life look like amidst the pandemic?
Every day is different. During the pandemic, I have been working seven days a week (including holidays), because the virus does not take a break. I chair a number of committees for the Australian Government and also sit on the AHPPC (Australian Health Protection Principal Committee) which brings together the Chief Medical Officers and the Chief Health Officers from each of the states and territories. We meet in the middle of each day to share what is happening with the pandemic across the country and to prepare the recommendations to National Cabinet for the national responses to all the health elements of the pandemic. So, the day is framed around that meeting, but some days start very early if I am doing the rounds of breakfast TV shows. Also, each week I bring together stakeholders working in general practice and in the wider primary care sector for update meetings. I do a series of webinars as well as social media, sharing information with the public and there is a huge amount of other work, particularly around developing the policies for the Australian Government’s response to various aspects of the pandemic, providing advice to the Australian Parliament on making their sittings COVID-safe, advice to the Attorney General’s Department on making essential industries COVID-safe and keeping them functioning throughout the pandemic – the list goes on and on. It is a huge challenge, there must be times when it can be quite deflating. There are times of the day when your heart sinks and it’s usually sinking with the hearts of the rest of the nation, when we do our press conference every afternoon updating the nation on what is happening at the national level. I had to announce at one press conference that there had been 747 new cases in Australia, (a record number at that time). That was quite a distressing thing to do, particularly with most of the cases being in Melbourne where my own family, loved ones and many of my friends are based.
The Old Trinity Grammarians’ Association has partnered with the school on a Men’s Health Strategy – Beyond the Uniform – what are the key messages we should be mindful of passing on to our Old Boys’ community?
This is a really important time to be doing this, especially of course with so many OTGs being in Melbourne and Victoria. Being a general practitioner myself, of course, one of the most important things is to have your own GP, someone with whom you develop a relationship over time, someone you can talk to about anything, whether it’s your physical or mental health and wellbeing and someone who can check up on you when you need it. There are a number of preventive interventions which we all need regularly: screening for cancer; onset of heart disease; helping with giving up smoking; problems with excessive use of alcohol; advice on healthy diet and exercise – your GP can help with all of these.
It’s also important that people know their family history: if your father and grandfathers are still alive, what health care complaints do they have; if they have passed away, what did they pass away from and at what age, because often diseases run in families and it’s really important to be aware. From an early age you can make sure that you are doing everything you can to reduce your own risk factors so history doesn’t necessarily have to repeat itself.
As men, we tend to ignore our health and ignore signs that there may be something wrong. We should know what those signs are: what are the signs that I could be having a heart attack; early symptoms of a stroke; what are the signs of the cancers that affect men, in particular, prostrate; colon; lung and especially skin cancer? Getting those check-ups each year is vital. This is also the case with our mental health. Again, as men, we tend to ignore signs that we may be under a lot of stress or maybe we are becoming depressed and it’s not until we fall in a heap that we may end up doing something about it. It is far better to pick up on the signs of excessive stress or depression early on and work with your trusted GP and address these issues.
One of the roles that I have had over the past 10 years through my work with Beyond Blue is focussing on men’s mental health and how to prevent the terrible rates of suicide we have. It is important to not only look after ourselves, but also our brothers, fathers, sons, and our mates. Being clued in to when one of your family members or friends is not themselves and checking in is essential – Are you okay? Is something happening? Let’s have a coffee or go for a beer and talk about what’s happening – and maybe they need to go and see their GP or contact a support service like Beyond Blue or Lifeline and get some help.
The other important thing about Men’s Health is that there is often a gap where men stop seeking health advice while women continue to do so. This usually happens between 20 and 40 years of age. There are health problems that young men have; there can be risky behaviours and a lot of the mental health impact on men occurs during their 20s and 30s when many of life’s stresses are presenting themselves. I am particularly concerned with the impact of COVID-19 due to so many men being out of work, and the impact of that on the self-esteem we have around our occupations and employment, as well as the added financial stresses of being a breadwinner and looking after a family. It is also concerning that restrictions in Melbourne are putting people off going to see their doctor. I encourage people to use the telehealth sessions. Introducing this at the Commonwealth level, providing the Medicare rebate and opening it up to everyone in the community, is one of the most important things we have done.
Just to go back to your question about preparations for this role… this started very early in my life – one of the skills I got from my time at Trinity was through the leadership training. We were the senior boys, who acted as mentors for the younger boys on camp (cross-age mentoring). I was at Trinity in Year 11 in the first year of the program. In Year 12, I accompanied the boys in Years 7 and 8 again and those opportunities to be a leader, learn about leadership and to develop leadership skills at a young age are invaluable. You carry these skills through your career and into all sorts of other settings. I remember this experience well and I also really enjoyed the bushwalking club, the Music and Drama programs, science, and especially the computer science which we were being taught in the mid-70s. Trinity was one of the first schools in Australia to have computers, and now a lot of my work is around digital health, telehealth and all sorts of things to do with computers. I loved the real focus on literature and history which gave me a really sound basis for the humanities side of my work. It was a fantastic all-round program!
In closing, do you think by Christmas we will be able to gather in larger groups?
I hope so – we are heading in the right direction. I am desperate to come to Melbourne to see my mother and meet my new great niece – hopefully by Christmas – it depends on everyone doing the right thing.
