Dr Melinda Dalman in Ballarat, Victoria | Medical and health

Dr Melinda Dalman

Locality: Ballarat, Victoria

Phone: +61 3 5339 9099

Address: 216 Armstrong St Sth 3350 Ballarat, VIC, Australia

Website: http://asfb.com.au

Likes: 766

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25.01.2022 Sending solidarity to my colleagues in Melbourne in the thick of the Covid-19 fight. Regional Victoria has a very brief chance to do this REALLY well, and try our guts out not to let this get a firmer foothold here. Think think think about ALL your choices. It could be the most minor bad choice that becomes your undoing. Good, sensible people DO get coronavirus. This is our moment to voluntarily step up and care for our fellow Victorians with hyper-vigilance. We all know what to do. Go team regional Vic [NB: the valve on this mask is inactivated on the inside].

25.01.2022 Keeping home a green zone, and what on earth is a FOMITE? Now that we’re all on board with hand hygiene, coughing/sneezing thoughtfully, standing 1.5m apart, no face touching, no big gatherings etc, I think the next thing is how to avoid seeding your safe space with virus that you encounter out in the community. There is nothing better than letting your guard down at home, but that only works if you keep your home a green zone. Health care workers have contaminatio...Continue reading

24.01.2022 Why it’s cool to care about coronavirus. Picture this: Jaxxon is leaning on the metal food counter at the Grand Prix with his mates. He thinks he’ll look uncool applying sanitiser, because worrying about the virus is for toilet paper hoarding preppers who’d believe anything they read. He is infected, but his gym honed 24yo bod fights it off and he hardly notices. Hayden who uses the pec deck at the gym after him on Thursday picks up the virus, because Hayden is too cool to w...ipe down equipment. His VO2max is off the charts. Viruses are no concern to him. Hayden is still living at home, taking advantage of his mum Sue’s broadband and Netflix. Sue works at a nursing home with 400 residents, and the next week infects two patients. It spreads in this vulnerable population like wildfire. Half the residents are infected, but the hospitals have no beds in ICU because they are full of Italian Grand Prix drivers, and the elderly are not prioritised. 28 people who should have died peacefully at their time die - isolated from their loved ones, terrified and gasping - knowing they were deemed not worthy of saving. Their traumatised doctor does her best, amidst the horror. Sue knows it was her who started it. Jaxxon sees it on the news, and has NO IDEA he just needed to clean his damn hands. I’m really worried about the prevalence of too cool to care. You may be young and low risk, but you’re a breath away from the vulnerable. We’re all in this together. #itscooltocareaboutcovid See more

24.01.2022 Here I am in my new office! I’m very lucky to be working with a team of doctors liaising with South Australia health, assessing coronavirus patients suitability for management at home, and referring them to appropriate support services. I’ll still be doing emergency skin cancer work at ASFB, but I’m doing this in my spare time. What I’ve learnt so far is that hardly ANYONE knows how they got it, and most are surprised when they come up positive because they don’t have the classic fever and cough. Don’t assume you won’t be exposed, and don’t dismiss a runny nose, body aches, nausea, headache, or sore throat as just a cold. If in doubt, self isolate, even if you don’t qualify for a test. Stay safe, stay kind, stay home

23.01.2022 Hi ASFB family . In the interests of protecting ALL of us, we would like to ask all patients to: 1: wear a mask to their appointments. We have a limited number here, but the uncertainty about how easily we can get more means we will be offering them only to those we consider higher risk. 2: If you have visited/worked in the locked down areas in the past fortnight, or had visitors from there, please reschedule your appointment on 53399099. 3: if you have any symptoms, please reschedule. We have a high proportion of at-risk patients, and wish to offer the safest possible medical service.

23.01.2022 Lockdown has been announced. For my practice this will mean I’ll only be offering essential services. Routine skin checks will be suspended, however if you have a suspicious lesion I will do spot checks (rather than the more lengthy exposure a full check requires) and any surgical procedures for skin cancers will still be done. Additionally, for those over 70 who I have seen in the preceding 12 months, I can offer Telehealth consultations. We won’t reschedule appointments at ...this stage, because we have no fixed end point. Phone 53399099 for more information. I hope you’re all taking care of yourselves, and your loved ones. There’s a maelstrom of emotions swirling through all of us, and lots of self love and kindness will be needed to see us through this new horizon of challenge we face. It’s time to focus on our common humanity, and to find the strength to get through this, together. I’m sending my love and best wishes to all my dear patients . Melinda xx See more

23.01.2022 I found this trifecta of melanomas in the last TWO DAYS of normal practice pre Covid-19 restrictions. Please everyone, if you have a gut feeling that a pigmented lesion is not right, get it checked. Melanoma might not wait for this virus to go away. I’m working a day a week to make sure urgent excisions aren’t delayed. If you’re not keen on coming in, we can do a Telehealth triage consultation first and I’ll tell you if I think it can wait. If you do need to come in, we are stringently screening for good health at the door, cleaning like mad people and I’m taking zero unnecessary personal risks to make sure I don’t give it you. I think we’re as safe as any practice can be. I’m still here if you need me. I hope you’re all faring well

21.01.2022 Short of PPE? We have a suggestion! I hope we made you smile. Congratulations on making it though a crazy week. Stay safe, stay kind, stay home!

21.01.2022 Tips on face masks.

18.01.2022 Here’s a little peek at my socially isolated life. I hope you’re all navigating this crazy time successfully. It’s certainly had positives for me, and my work with the SA Health Covid-19 assessment team has been hugely rewarding. It’s slowing down now with fewer new cases (hurrah!), so I’ve decided to come back to work on Thursdays to see urgent cases. Please phone 53399099 to book, and only attend if you have no fever, cough, runny or congested nose, headaches, body aches, sore throat, loss of smell, diarrhoea or other unusual symptoms.

17.01.2022 If you are feeling like me in the face of this pandemic - helpless and overwhelmed - here is something you can do right now. You may have seen on the news/Sunrise/The Project (see the twitter link) the exciting news out of Brisbane about the potential of an old malaria drug and a superseded HIV drug to dramatically cure sick patients with COVID-19. They are building on work done by the Chinese. The Victorian arm of this study, the Australasian Covid-19 trial or #ASCOT, is b...eing run by the Peter Doherty institute (link below). If the trial is privately funded, it can get going straight away, without the red tape of acquiring public funding. This could mean.... drum roll... Victorian’s could be enrolled in a potentially lifesaving trial straight away! So not only do you get to feel altruistic about potentially saving the world, but you might just directly save your OWN life! Associate Professor Dr Steven Tong is one of the key collaborators heading this up. He was a great friend of mine in Uni. To support the trial, scroll down the link to the donate now and you’ll be taken to a screen which shows any money is being directly allocated to this trial. Isn’t it nice to feel HOPEFUL! https://mobile.twitter.com/theproject//1239463923650306048 https://www.doherty.edu.au/

15.01.2022 Ughhhh I hate working in a mask, even one of these dodgy ones (the only ones we can get ). But with a new case in Ballarat and lots of vulnerable patients, I’m persisting. Go away Covid

14.01.2022 Here is a fantastic lung health tutorial by my super clever sister, physiotherapist Heather Dalman. I’ll definitely be doing these exercises. The more robust our lungs are, the better off we will be in the coming months. Get cracking!

12.01.2022 Ok team I need your help. I’m working with SA health again, this time medically assessing new arrivals into hotel quarantine, now that planes are arriving regularly. I’m hearing a lot of tragic/stressful/sad stories. These people haven’t travelled for foolhardy reasons. Many have been separated from spouses and children for months, have flown to visit dying family and are grieving, or been trapped having travelled for work. They have ALL had to battle red tape to get here, an...d they’re ALL desperate for a friendly chat. Fortunately I’m always up for one of those, as most of you know . So. Hit me up with your brilliant suggestion list for sanity savers in quarantine. Streaming services, specific series to get stuck into, absorbing books to read, online classes, gaming apps. I’m going to compile a list of our collective hot tips to email as a little slice of welcome for these people. I’ll kick it off. Fave apps: Duolingo - LOVE IT! I’m revising my French and Latin. Snake Rivals - ace mindless time waster. Books: loving reading Eragon with my son at the moment. Series: can’t go past The Big Bang Theory. Hit me up!! See more

11.01.2022 Here is me nervously awaiting my phone-in radio interview. Crossing my fingers I don’t say anything too daft. Wish me luck.

10.01.2022 I enjoyed a break from the seriousness of skin cancer medicine today on my cosmetic’s Friday-fun-day. Here is a handy case for demonstrating Dr Melinda’s two P principle of keeping filled lips looking non-freaky: proportion and projection. Keeping the vertical height ratio of top lip to bottom lip similar to the natural lip helps filled lips look normal. Fashion is trending towards more vertical height in the upper lip, but in some racial groups it just doesn’t look right. Projection: it’s nice when upper and lower lips project similarly on side view, with a neat little kick up at the upper border, and correcting this can look great BUT not at the cost of beaky-ness. It has to be kept within a range that looks nice from ALL angles. Love a bit of art in my week. Cheers to Friday.

08.01.2022 Happy winter solstice 2020, from my family to yours. Let’s hope by summer solstice our world is looking more positive. On the shortest day of the year, you all officially have my blessing to wear no sunscreen

08.01.2022 This image makes me tear up. Many of the doctors in the absolute thick of it in Melbourne, spearheading our state’s medical response, are my mates from Uni. I think about how carefree we were in those years, and how heavy their responsibility is now . I do want you all to understand, however, that they are brilliant, devoted, inspirational, ethical and DEEPLY kind. (They also have great taste in friends .) We’re in SUCH good hands. We just need to give our heart, soul, guts and determination into supporting them in every way we can. Stay safe my treasured friends. I salute you.

07.01.2022 It’s footy colours day today at ASFB. #gotiges

04.01.2022 Do you have a LONELY MOLE? This is a principle of melanoma diagnosis that is simple to take on board. A mole like this that is lonely, with none nearby like it, has a higher chance of being a melanoma. These two ‘Nigel-no-mates’ lesions were both early melanoma. An easy fix, if you find them early. Here is an idea for a slow Saturday night in iso. Have a peek under each other’s clothes for lonely moles. It might be fun! Or it might save your life.

02.01.2022 I had the great pleasure of seeing one of my favourite patients today. She is 81 years old and has always worn high necked clothes. Over 15 years I’ve taken 32 skin cancers off this lady’s face, head and neck, but NONE below the neck. Look at the sharp demarcation between the sun exposed and non exposed skin! Show your adolescents! At eighty her skin where it hasn’t seen sun could pass for 30 years old, but her face has been ravaged by our UV. If you want to minimise skin cancers AND aging, slip slop slap every single day between now and Easter. Thank you, SH, for educating us

02.01.2022 Who is feeling full of love for their dads? Soon COVID-19 restrictions will ease and we will be able to see our loved ones. If you’re lucky enough to still have your dad in your life, may I suggest a meaningful add-on to your Father’s Day gift? Offer to check your father’s back. In medical school, med students have drummed into them more is missed by not LOOKING than by not KNOWING. Look. You don’t have to KNOW much to diagnose a skin cancer this obvious, but you do have to LOOK. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads in my practice. You are so loved.

02.01.2022 I’m a proud Victorian. I love my state, and my fellow Victorians. We can do this. We live in the best state, in the best country, and we have to hope that these new measures will pull us back to the life we love. Stay strong

01.01.2022 Today our practice lost a dear patient to melanoma. Despite all we can do to fight it, melanoma is still to be feared. I’m sad tonight. But on Monday, I’ll be back on the warpath to find this beast early, and in October I’ll always think of him and devote my melanoma hunt to his memory. My love to his family. Vale, TF.