News

Fun Fact

Merri-bek Family Doctors held our Christmas party this year at Farm Vigano in South Morang. We felt like we had discovered a hidden treasure. Farm Vigano is located on the edge of suburban Melbourne, but as you drive onto the property, it’s as if you pass through a portal and are suddenly in the countryside. Here are some of our team enjoying the rural ambience. You might recognise Dr Ann Watt who has been with us since 2016 and who specialises in medical acupuncture, weight loss medicine and women’s sexual health. The other face may be new to you – read about our newest doctor below.

Meet Dr Jessie Rucker, the newest addition to your medical team!

We welcome our newest addition to Merri-bek Family Doctors, Dr Jessie Rucker. Jessie graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2016. She is passionate about providing holistic care and developing long-term therapeutic relationships with her patients.

Jessie graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2016. She is passionate about providing holistic care and developing long-term therapeutic relationships with her patients. She has a thorough approach as well as a focus on preventative care.

Jessie enjoys the breadth and variety of General Practice. She has particular interests in chronic disease management, refugee health, palliative care and women’s health. She has also completed additional training in skin cancer medicine. Jessie can perform Implanon insertion/removal and minor surgical procedures.

Outside of work Jessie loves getting out of town on camping trips, watching films and going to gigs. … more

Health Promotion

We hope that the festive season brings many happy opportunities for you to gather with family and friends. It can be helpful to have some strategies that help you to enjoy these celebrations without throwing your health goals out with the Christmas wrapping. For example, if you would like to avoid drinking too much alcohol, planning ahead is key, because alcohol switches off your self-monitoring ability!

Choose strategies ahead of time that help you stay conscious of how much you’re drinking (such as by recording your intake) and that help you slow down (such as replacing alcoholic drinks with zero-alcoholic alternatives, or alternating alcoholic drinks with soft drinks or water). Be sure to eat before and during a drinking session, so that the alcohol is absorbed more gradually and doesn’t overwhelm the liver’s capacity to detoxify it. You can find more strategies for reducing your alcohol intake here.

Heart Food

Enjoy with us this beautiful poem by 12th/13th century Andalusian Arab Sufi mystic, poet and philosopher Ibn Al-Arabi.

My heart is capable of every form:
A cloister for the monk, a fane for idols,
A pasture for gazelles, the votary’s Ka’ba [temple],
The tables of the Torah, the Quran.
Love is the creed I hold: wherever turn
His camels, Love is still my creed and faith.