Jennifer Pittorino
From the age of 13, a career in medicine was always a dream for newly awarded Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) recipient Christine Anne Longman.
This year will mark 40 years as a general practitioner for the Williamstown local.
“I have always found the idea of doing medicine incredibly appealing, I never really wanted to do anything else,” she said.
“It is always what I wanted to do and if I had my time again, I’d do exactly the same thing.”
Dr Longman said she was stunned when she learnt about the honour.
“One of the reasons why I was absolutely flabbergasted when I found out and I stopped them to some extent, because I think I’ve just been doing my job.
“It has just been the greatest career, being a GP and practising in the same area.”
Some of her favourite things about being a GP for the last four decades include getting to know generations of families and watching the population change as well as the area.
“I have only ever worked in the west. I have been at the Western Hospital in Footscray, then I was in Williamstown doing obstetrics, and have since been at Yarraville where I am finishing up,” she said.
In addition to working part time as a GP, Cr Longman has also enjoyed delivering babies and doing pro bono work as an on-call doctor with the Victorian doctors health program.
“I feel it’s a real privilege to treat your colleagues and have your colleagues have faith in you to treat them.”
Dr Longman will be moving onto something slightly different next week, she will be working as a GP in the country.
“The country is very short of doctors and I’ve always felt I haven’t really contributed much,“ she said.
Despite turning 70 next year, Dr Longman feels she is working better than ever and will continue to work for as long as she can.
“Experience helps but I have learnt a lot from my mistakes. I get great satisfaction from being able to help people often with difficult problems and hope you’ve been helpful.”
Humbled by news of the OAM, Dr Longman said she feels there are many GPs who deserve similar recognition.
“All my colleagues have done so much and have taught me so much.”
