TAMWORTH'S health corps are sick of the region's disheartening stats and have issued a call to arms to stop needless deaths.
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Next month, the Primary Health Network will host its inaugural '2000 hearts' forum in Tamworth which is aimed at helping the region relinquish its grimmest titles.
Headlines labelling Tamworth the most obese, a heart attack capital, heaviest smokers have left a mark.
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While there are things individuals can potentially control, one Tamworth doctor says the system needs to evolve as well.
Barton Lane GP David Lockart said health workers of all ilks needed to come together to map out a solution.
"How can we change how a practice looks so that you don't just book a consult to come and have a one-on-one chat," he said.
"We're trying to look at the bigger picture and how can general practice change.
"There's changing technology and approaches to how you get information, but there's nothing about group stuff in the way Medicare is set up."
It's not just physical health which needs to be addressed, Dr Lockart said, with issues around access to employment and healthier diets looming large in some parts of the region.
The Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network (PHN) has called for more local health workers to register for the event which will feature presentations from leaders in general practice, nursing and cardiology.
The PHN has set a lofty outcome from the event to help delay and prevent at least 2000 cardiovascular disease related deaths in the region.
"We want to take the 40-somethings at the moment, who might be at risk of a heart attack in their fifties and make changes to prevent things that would have happened in ten years and delay that to twenty years, or have it not happen at all," Dr Lockart said.
It's a long game they're playing, but it has been pitched as an opportunity for the region's health workers to band together and help shift the stats and headlines which have come to define many of the council areas in the New England North West.
The symposium will be held at the Mercure Hotel on Saturday, September 7.
Organisers have extended an invite to all primary and tertiary health workers in New England and neighbouring districts.
Registrations to attend can be accessed online.