Doctor awarded

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Doctor awarded

DR Mario Croatto of Leongatha has been recognised for “meritorious service to the Italian community”.

The Italian Australian Coordinating Committee of Gippsland presented the certificate to Dr Croatto during a dinner at the Italian Australian Sporting Club in Morwell.

They lured the doctor there by asking him to give a speech, then suddenly presented him with a certificate.

“It was a bit of a shock to me,” Dr Croatto said.

“It was a very emotional moment.”

Sam Sinocchiaro, president of the Italian Australian Coordinating Committee of Gippsland, arranged for Dr Croatto to receive the honour.

“He’s a great man,” Mr Sinocchiaro said.

“He had a lot of Italians going to him; one, probably because he could understand what they were saying, and two, he was a great doctor as far as they were concerned.”

Dr Croatto worked in Leongatha as a general practitioner from 1961to 1995.

For much of that time, he was the only Italian speaking doctor in the area and patients travelled from as far afield as the Dandenongs, the Latrobe Valley and Lakes Entrance to see him.

There were no translators and many Italian speaking people who moved to Victoria after World War Two felt their English was inadequate in times of illness or emergency.

Dr Croatto said most only wanted reassurance.

“In 75 per cent of cases I had nothing to add,” he said, saying that most patients only wanted to be sure they had got the right diagnosis from their local doctor and understood the medical advice they were given.

Dr Croatto’s parents were from the north of Italy but did not speak Italian at home, using a dialect instead.

Dr Croatto, born in Australia, began to learn the Italian language when he was 13 or 14 years old.

He has retired now and lives in Leongatha with his wife Leonie.

They have six children and seven grandchildren.

Valued doctor: Dr Mario Croatto of Leongatha has been recognised for his dedication to caring for the Italian community.

Valued doctor: Dr Mario Croatto of Leongatha has been recognised for his dedication to caring for the Italian community.

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Posted by on Jun 24 2014. Filed under Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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