Unsung Heroes: Dr John Gliddon keeping Bunbury families healthy since 1982

Sometimes, the most unexpected opportunities are the ones that have the biggest impact on our lives. Such testament rings true for Bunbury doctor of 40 years Dr John Gliddon, who ended up in the South West by total chance, going on to describe it as an “absolute privilege” all these decades later. Despite not arriving in Bunbury until 1982, Dr Gliddon’s medical career started in Perth where he was born and raised, where he was motivated to join the field after his own family doctor he greatly “admired.” “I had a doctor that used to visit me at home because I used to have quite significant asthma,” he shared. “He would visit me at home and give me an injection and over the years he also became a very good family friend. . . and I really respected him and thought that I’d like to study medicine as well.” Obtaining a medical degree at the University of Western Australia, he hoped to become a rural general practitioner, wanting to be involved in “a bit of everything.” “We often talk about ‘from the cradle to the grave’ in general practice, that’s what general practice is about,” he said. “You start at the cradle with the delivering the babies. . . and now I’ve been here so long I’ve delivered babies of babies.” He began his career at Fremantle Hospital, where he was posted to Carnarvon for a brief period — still able to recall his first birth as a qualified doctor as if it were yesterday. “One weekend, I was the doctor on call at the Winning Pool races and this pregnant woman and her husband, a kangaroo shooter, were driving around country WA in a big double decker bus,” he remembered fondly. He was called to action at 2am the next morning when told the woman had gone into labour, needing to deliver the new born atop the bus. “The placenta was stuck so we had to call the Flying Doctor service because that can be a a serious and dangerous situation. “But being 21/2 hours from Carnarvon, we had to get all these not-so sober patoralists who had been in the two-up school to rally and turn all their cars lights on to light up the paddock for the plane to land. “The plane came in and took to the lady back to Carnarvon and it all went well, I remember sitting around the campfire until dawn with her husband. . . I think they even called the child Winning after the Winning Pool races.” Eager to improve and expand his knowledge, the young man later went on to travel to the United Kingdom with his wife Anne, where the pair studied obstetrics and anaesthetics before choosing to return to Australia with their young family. Originally planning on heading to a smaller location like Bridgetown or Busselton, a surprise opportunity saw them settle in Bunbury, with Dr Gliddon and his wife joining the team at Doctor Foster and Associates in a full-time general practice with obstetrics and anaesthetics role in which he has serviced the community for the past four decades. “A very good friend of mine, who I did medicine with had just come down to Bunbury and worked in the only other practice down here,” he said. “So he was down here when I got a call from Dr Ern Manea who invited me down for a look and a chat. “I just thought I’ll come down and give it a go. . . I had no intention of ever coming to Bunbury, and look how it’s turned out now.” Continuing the theme of “ cradle to grave,” Dr Gliddon was part of the founding group of Bunbury Hospice and Palliative Care Service in the 1990s, also taking on medical students for many years — passionate about both helping and learning as much as he could. “I just was aware that a lot of people with terminal diseases were dying in hospital and a lot of those people would have preferred to have died in their homes, with family and loved ones,” he said. “But I just loved learning, and that’s what all of this is about, learning from your patients, your colleagues, students I’ve had through. . . it’s a shared experience that’s how you learn medicine, and you keep learning things all the time.” And though he stopped delivering babies in 2011, his dedication has seen him continue to serve the community as a GP for 11 more years, working tirelessly to ensure everyone is in full health. But despite all his achievements over the years, he said it was the unique connections he shared with his patients and colleagues that had been the best thing to come out his career, one that simply “would not have been possible” without the love and support of his darling wife. “Being in a semi-rural practice, you develop friendships that you probably wouldn’t develop with your patients in the city,” he said. “Down here, you see your patients everywhere. . . particularly in those days, when we were one of the only practices in town, we had almost everyone come through so you’d see lots of people out and about and form nice friendships.” “It really is a family practice, that’s what general practice is all about and I’m feel so privileged to be a part of that.”