Fair crack: Chiropractor flies in to help Mallee town with only one GP

Whenever he needed to see a doctor, his partner had to make the four-hour round trip from his hometown of Birchip to Bendigo with him.

"It was a huge burden on my partner. We have two young kids," Mr Sheridan said.

"It makes the everyday grind when you're recovering from an injury just that little bit more challenging."

Like many Malle towns, Birchip is surrounded by wheat, barley and lentil farms.

In the 2021 census, there were fewer than 700 people living there. The town has one GP.

East Wimmera Health Service has a Birchip Campus, but for the majority of medical needs, residents are forced to travel to Swan Hill, Bendigo or Ballarat.

That's where Bendigo-based chiropractor Andrew Cameron comes in.

In the early 1990s, he got a pilot's licence so he could provide healthcare to regional and rural communities in Victoria.

The trips became too difficult after his children were born, but a year ago he started flying to Birchip once a fortnight.

For Mr Sheridan, Mr Cameron's regular fly-in visits became a 'godsend' during his recovery.

"Having someone in Birchip was probably the difference between doing it to the best of my ability and just sort of doing enough," Mr Sheridan said.

"It really gave me the confidence that we were going to get back to 100 per cent."

In light of his successful healthcare flights, Mr Cameron wants government funding for more planes, pilots and health practitioners, but has so far been unsuccessful.

"We have poorer services there now than even 10 years ago," he said of healthcare in Birchip.

"It's a third world up there. They're asking people with potential dementia to drive two or three hours on those roads to get an appointment in six months' time in Ballarat.

"It's barbaric."

Maternal and child health nurses appointments are available in Birchip, but women have been campaigning for pre- and post-natal services.

When Celeste McLoughlan was pregnant with her first child, she was travelling two-and-a-half hours to Ballarat for her pre-natal appointments.

Two weeks before her due date, she and her husband booked accommodation in Ballarat, rather than attempt the long drive while in labour.

"We were just waiting and waiting - and paying for accommodation," she said.

For her second child, she scheduled a caesarean.

"We're lucky to have a hospital and a very good GP in town, but in terms of those allied health services, they haven't been available to us in Birchip," Ms McLoughlan said.

"You know that everyone at some point has to the travel for these healthcare services."

Mr Cameron has had other healthcare professionals reach out to him about participating in the flights, but without funding, he's covering the cost entirely by himself.

"That [the money] is not the reason we do it," he said. "Just emotionally - I'm part of that world."

Mr Cameron is originally from Robinvale, a small town on the south bank of the Murray River.

"Up north there, even as a kid, I saw what they're up against," he said.

"So it was always a goal of mine to try and service those areas in some way.

"I'm getting to Birchip, which is just a small thing. But maybe it's a step in the right direction."