Mildura’s Dr Kimberley Sleeman has dedicated almost two decades to assisting local woman with gynaecological issues and obstetrics care and has helped grow a generation of families.
As the go-to for many Sunraysia, Swan Hill, Broken Hill and Riverland women when it comes to their health needs, she has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.
For many years Sunraysia has experienced issues in retaining medical professionals, however, Dr Sleeman bucked the trend when very early in her career she made a life-long commitment to practicing in Mildura.
In a way, it was the tough times that made Dr Sleeman gravitate towards a career in obstetrics and gynaecology, realising that while there is a lot of joy and excitement in the field, there is also much heartache.
“There is a lot of good news in obstetrics and gynaecology but there’s often lots of bad news as well,” Dr Sleeman said.
“Sometimes helping someone when things don’t go right is even more important than helping someone when everything is happy.
“That is something that was really important to me in terms of choosing this field and it is still something I really value.”
Dr Sleeman has been practicing in Mildura for the past 18 years and prior to that trained under a number of local doctors including while at the old Mildura Base Hospital’s emergency department and paediatrics ward in Thirteenth Street.
Since then, her work has almost come full circle.
“After 18 years of practicing in Mildura full-time, I have definitely delivered a generation of Mildura babies,” Dr Sleeman said.
“Some of the children I looked after in the paediatric ward in 1997 and 1998 have gone on to be my patient when having their babies.”
In 2005 Dr Sleeman opened Mildura O&G. Operating four days per week, Dr Sleeman and her team of doctors, midwives and nurses, provide specialist care to patients and perform a range of small procedures.
However she continues to work at both Mildura Health Private Hospital (MHPH) and Mildura Base Public Hospital (MBPH) to ensure the women of Sunraysia and surrounding regions have access to close to home care.
“I have regular gynaecology operating lists at MHPH that include gynaecology problems such as abnormal pap smears and surgery to investigate infertility, pelvic pain or ovarian cysts, as well as major operations such as hysterectomy and services for unplanned pregnancy or miscarriage.
“I have an operating list every week at Mildura Base Public Hospital which can include gynaecology operations and elective caesareans.”
As part of Dr Sleeman’s private clinic, she also offers IVF infertility services through Monash IVF, allowing treatments to be delivered locally.
“I do consultations for infertility patients all the time and four times a year we have IVF cycles happening here in Mildura.
“I do all the procedures myself and have a nurse and scientists’ team that come up to support us and make that happen.”
Dr Sleeman said her various roles allowed specialised women’s health services to be delivered locally, meaning the majority of women did not need to travel outside the region.
And she said that would not change. “It’s my intention to practice my whole career in this community.
“I’m deeply committed to living in Mildura with my family. My kids go to school here and I’m heavily involved in the community outside of work which includes sitting on a number of committees.
“We have a block with 20 acres of grapes and when I’m not working you can usually find me out there driving a tractor or down the river on my stand-up paddle board.”
