Dr Simon Benson
We welcome our newest addition to Merri-bek Family Doctors, Dr Simon Benson. Simon brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Merri-bek Family Doctors. He has worked as a medical educator at the University of Melbourne, led clinical teams in government-run COVID clinics and Urgent Care Services, and maintains special interests in chronic disease management, mental health, LGBTQIA+ health and care for adolescents and young adults.
When Simon isn’t working with us, he’s busy with his other major role as Director of Clinical Innovation at Bupa, where he leads national work in digital health, genomics and care model design.
Did you know?
Australians are travelling more than ever. 23% of Australians planned to travel overseas in 2025, and over 50% of Australians have a domestic holiday booked. We’re travelling now more than we did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s important to remember that, along with planning the fun part of your holiday, you should consider how to stay safe overseas. Many countries have endemic diseases that we don’t often come across in Australia. The local population develop immunity to these diseases, but we can become very unwell if we catch them, which often happens due to contaminated food and water or through mosquito bites. Merri–bek Family Doctors can provide the whole range of travel vaccinations required for your holiday, including the Yellow Fever vaccination, provided by Dr Redhuan Akram. Talk to your GP about what vaccinations you may require, or make an appointment with Dr Akram to plan your holiday vaccinations.
Fun Fact
Osteoporosis and ostrich start with the same three letters …
Osteoporosis is a completely painless, symptom-free condition where the bones gradually lose density and become brittle. This means it can be tempting to ignore your bone health and bury your head in the sand. But osteoporosis is a very common condition, especially in women, and it can become very symptomatic if you fall over and break a hip or a vertebra. In severe cases, people can break bones by sneezing!
An osteoporotic fracture can have a big impact on you and your family. If you’re over 50 or have fractured a bone in a fall, it’s wise to get a baseline bone density test done, and to monitor your bone density over the years. Osteoporosis can be prevented and treated with adequate calcium intake starting in childhood, safe sun exposure to keep your vitamin D levels healthy and certain kinds of weight bearing and resistance exercise. Sometimes medications are required to treat it as well.
Talk to your doctor about whether you should be tested for osteoporosis. You can also find more information on the Healthy Bones Australia website, which can be found here.
Heart Food
Enjoy with us this beautiful poem by contemporary Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye.
Kindness
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
