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Medical Practitioners

Dr. Ken Lajoie

Doctor
Principal

Dr. Al Falah Dhanji

Doctor

Dr. Alasdair Young

Doctor

Dr. Vira Chawtur

Doctor

Dr. Coen Strydom

Doctor

Dr. Naif Saigol

Doctor

Dr. Leah Strauch

GP registrar

Physiotherapists

Jonathon Kong

Physiotherapist

Brian Hamilton

Physiotherapist

Jasmine Chan

Physiotherapist

Psychologist

Marie Dow

Psychologist

Podiatrists

Ryan Rossouw

Podiatrist

Katrina

Podiatrist

Dieticians

Sarah Wells

Dietician

Practice Manager

Sasha Godrich

Practice Manager

Advanced Practice Nurses

Fortune Pemhiwa

Advanced Practice Nurse

Chris Lowings

Advanced Practice Nurse

Nursing Team

Jasmine Simpson

Nursing Team

Tracy Madigan

Nursing Team

Roanne Mariano

Nursing Team

Georgi Mew

Nursing Team

Jessica Mukevski

Nursing Team

Pharmacist - Home Medication Reviews

Nick Galatis

Pharmacist

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We acknowledge that the Kaurna people are traditional custodians of the land upon which Reynella Family Care resides. We wish to pay our respects to their elders’ past, present and emerging.

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Dr. Ken Lajoie

Doctor
Principal

Bachelor’s degrees in Fine arts and Biomedical Sciences, Master’s in Public Health, Master’s Education, Doctorate in Osteopathic Medicine, Diplomate AAFP, FRACP.

Dr. Ken Lajoie is from the USA. He has bachelor’s degrees in Fine arts and Biomedical science from the University of New Hampshire. He was a biomedical illustrator before joining the Peace Corps for two years in the French West African country of Mauritania working in Public Health and Health Education.
He taught science in Boston and New York City while completing a Master’s degree in Education at Columbia University. He then taught at Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey where he met his wife Kate, a Barossa Valley native.
He studied hospice at Harvard University and earned a Master’s degree in Public Health at Boston University. Graduating from medical school in Kansas City and completing his post-graduate training at the Dartmouth-Maine Family Medicine Residency. He worked in migrant health in southern California and New Mexico, where he was the Medical Director of Star Hospice. He also worked for the Veteran’s association and Native American health service.
He is an Osteopathic physician and believes in a holistic approach to diagnosis and treatment. A strong advocate for health education, Dr. Lajoie encourages wellness and education programs at Reynella Family Care.
He is the Reynella Family Care Principal.

Dr. Al Falah Dhanji

Doctor

BSc(Hons), MB BS (London), Dip. Family Planning, Dip. Obstetrics and Gynaecology, MRCGP, Cert. Diabetes Care, FRACGP

Al-Falah qualified in London in 1995 and has been a GP since 1998. Al-Falah was a senior partner in London, a GP Tutor for medical students, a school doctor, worked in Accident and Emergency, and ran two GP specialist orthopedic clinics. He also wrote medical reports for MVA victims and was a medical advisor for a gym.

Al-Falah moved from the UK to Australia in August 2013. Since starting at Reynella Family Care he has been very heavily involved with Obstetrics Shared Care looking after mums, and babies, and of course providing care for the whole family. He does a lot of Workcover and Musculoskeletal work, coordinating care closely with our physiotherapists, and exercise physiologist work. Al-Falah also enjoys looking after patients with diabetes and weight management issues, working closely with the dietician and exercise physiologist. He also supports those with mental health issues and works with our excellent psychologists and local psychiatrist to provide the best possible care. Al-Falah uses care plans and quarterly reviews to help patients access allied healthcare professionals and psychologists where Medicare allows.

In his spare time, Al-Falah enjoys his weekends with the family and they all love eating out. Fortunately, he exercises at a local gym and enjoys swimming. You might catch him walking up Mount Lofty with his daughter or going for a walk along the esplanade with his wife. Al Falah enjoys photography and you can see some of his photos on the Reynella Family Clinic walls. He also writes health articles for the Light of Adelaide magazine and supports charity work, predominately through Human Appeal Australia.

Dr. Alasdair Young

Doctor

MBChB, FRACGP, nMRCGP, MRCP (UK), BSc (Hons)

Dr. Young moved with his young family from the UK in April 2013. He trained and worked in Glasgow, Scotland for 9 years before moving to London. He was part of a top Gastroenterology Unit at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London and received further specialist medical training across various London and UK hospitals. Dr. Young completed his Hospital specialty exams and then his GP training in Yorkshire, England, before becoming a full-time GP. Dr. Young also works a few sessions a month with a senior Orthopaedic surgeon at Flinders Private Hospital, in a surgical assistant role.
General skills: Full-scope Family Medicine including Women’s health and Paediatrics. Minor surgery and Implanon insertion/removal.
Special interests: Medical Speciality training in Elderly Care, Chronic Disease Management, and Gastroenterology.

Dr. Vira Chawtur

Doctor

BSc, B Nursing Practice, BMBS, FRACGP, Grad Certificate of Wound Care.

Vira grew up in Adelaide. She began her career in teaching, then progressed to medical research at Flinders Medical Centre and the CSIRO. She obtained a nursing degree from Flinders University in 1994 and worked as a registered nurse at Noarlunga Hospital for several years. Vira has a strong interest in rural medicine and studied for a medical degree at Flinders University, graduating in 2000. After her internship at QEH and Lyell McEwin hospital, she moved to Tasmania in 2002 where she spent 16 years as a rural GP mainly in Latrobe, northwestern Tasmania where she was a senior partner. Vira was involved in teaching medical students and GP Registrars. Vira moved back to Adelaide in 2018 to be close to her two daughters.
General skills: Chronic disease management including diabetes, women’s health, and the full scope of family medicine.
Special interests: Wound Care.

 

Dr. Coen Strydom

Doctor

MBChB FRACGP

Dr. Strydom started in Rural GP Practice in 1981 and continued there for the next 10 years, after which he began to practice in a suburban setting. His special interests have been in Sports Medicine and Injuries and looking after our older citizens and keeping fit and healthy as we progress through the stages of life.
Dr. Strydom confines his practice to the care of nursing home residents.

Dr. Naif Saigol​

Doctor

MBBS, FRACGP. SCHP (PAEDIATRICS)

Dr. Naif Saigol is a new addition to the team of experienced GPs at Reynella Family Care. He has recently moved permanently to the area after being a GP in Adelaide Hills for many years. Dr. Saigol completed his intern and resident training in Rural New South Wales. He then moved to South Australia for his Australian General Practice Training and was awarded his Fellowship FRACGP in 2019.

He is passionate about building up his patient following at our practice and has a special interest in pediatrics, chronic disease management, men’s health, and emergency medicine and loves performing minor skin cancer surgery. He also performs full-body mole checks. Apart from Australia Naif has also worked in Newzealand as a specialist GP. His personal interests include hiking, traveling, and playing cricket.

Dr. Leah Strauch

GP registrar

Originally from Melbourne, Leah has a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and a Master of Environment, working as an engineer for a decade before making the switch to medicine. She and her wife transplanted themselves to Adelaide so that she could complete her medical degree at Flinders University, from which she graduated in 2019. She has since worked at Flinders Medical Centre, Noarlunga Hospital, and in GP clinics in Strathalbyn and O’Halloran Hill.
Leah enjoys the variety of GP, and finds that her engineering background supports her pragmatic approach to problem solving and collaborative medicine. She has undertaken further training in paediatric medicine, and particularly enjoys seeing her littlest patients for both their ‘well’ and ‘unwell’ appointments. She has a keen interest in sexual health and reproductive medicine, and performs implanon insertion and removal. She also has an interest in gender-affirming healthcare and queer health in general.
When not in clinic Leah’s time is currently fully occupied by her young family – twin toddlers have currently taken priority over hobbies but she hopes to get back to a bit more variety in the next few years.

Jonathon Kong

Physiotherapist

BPhysio, BSc(Hons), MSc, SDipl, GCert(MSK), GCert(DS), APAM

In my role as a clinical physiotherapist, I have experience dealing with patients of all ages and levels of severity. This includes those who suffer from a broad diversity of musculoskeletal disorders of varying degrees of severity, from mild to severe.
In addition to treating musculoskeletal problems, I also provide evidence-based techniques and interventions to assist patients in dealing with acute and persistent pain. As part of my care for patients, I treat them holistically. I am able to provide them with appropriate guidance and treatment in order to resolve their issues as quickly as possible.
As a health professional, I enjoy working in a team environment. My daily clinic sessions include collaborating with doctors as well as other health professionals to create a custom intervention plan that will improve the health of my patients.
Aside from my professional work, I have a strong interest in data science and computing technology.

Jasmine Chan

Physiotherapist

MBChB FRACGP

Jasmine completed her Physiotherapy degree at the University of South Australia in 2013 and has since worked in Aged Care and private practice settings. She has completed professional development courses to acquire good assessment and treatment skills. Jasmine enjoys working with clients through the provision of hands-on treatments, exercise programs and education. Throughout her clinical practice, Jasmine has been complimented by clients, respiratory and orthopaedic specialists for helping clients to achieve positive outcomes.Dr. Strydom confines his practice to the care of nursing home residents.

Apart from work, she enjoys going for long walks with her husband, attending church services and Pilates.

Jasmine’s services and interests includes:-

Aged Care and Neurorehabilitation
General musculoskeletal physiotherapy
Osteoarthritis
Orthopaedics (pre-surgery and post-surgery rehabilitation)
Falls management and prevention
Pulmonary Rehabilitation
Pilates 
Dry Needling
Massage
Electrotherapy
Language spoken: English, Mandarin, and Malay

Marie Dow

Psychologist

BSocSc (HumServ); BPsychSc; BBehavSc (Hons); Dip Coun; M. Psyc (Health).
AHPRA registered psychologist, Health Psychologist

I am a psychologist with a special interest in health psychology (psychological difficulties related to chronic health/weight/pain issues), PTSD, complex trauma, self-esteem, grief and loss and animal assisted therapy. I have experience in assessing and treating psychological conditions across the lifespan including depression, anxiety, trauma, grief and loss and relationship difficulties. My approach is holistic, strengths based and person centred within a philosophy of collaborating with clients to reach their therapy goals. I incorporate a variety of evidence-based treatments tailored to suit individual clients including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Behavioural Activation (BA), Mindfulness, Motivational Interviewing, Schema Therapy and Narrative Therapy.

In addition to my role at Reynella Family Care I work in the public sector specialising in psychology for chronic pain and assessment and treatment of patients with Long Covid.

My personal interests include a love of animals, historical buildings, gardening, reading, classical music, bushwalking and collecting vintage jewellery.

Katrina

Podiatrist

Katrina completed her Podiatry degree in 2020 at the University of South Australia. She has since worked privately in medical centers North to South of Adelaide. Her podiatric experience includes dealing with low and high-risk feet, diabetes assessments and maintaining general foot health through preventative and palliative care.

Sasha Godrich

Business and Operations Manager

My expertise and passion for the healthcare industry, together with my natural ability to initiate and implement systems to increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of medical services and optimise outcomes for both patients and business operations have enabled me to achieve outstanding results. I have an easy rapport with people across all levels in the medical genre and thrive in autonomous and team environments.
I am delighted to have joined the Reynella Family Care team and look forward to bringing my years of experience to the practice.

 

Fortune Pemhiwa

Advanced Practice Nurse

BSocSc (HumServ); BPsychSc; BBehavSc (Hons); Dip Coun; M. Psyc (Health). AHPRA registered psychologist, Health Psychologist

Nurse Practitioners work in collaboration with our GPs to deliver primary care medical services and advanced practice nursing. Nurse Practitioners can assess, diagnose and manage your health concerns and are able to provide referrals, prescriptions and diagnostic tests such as X-rays. PLEASE NOTE: Nurse Practitioners DO NOT provide the following services: Chronic Disease Care Plans, Mental Health Care, Driver’s License Assessments, Completion of Centrelink forms, Workover and travel medicine. Please book with your usual GP for these services.

Chris Lowings

Advanced Practice Nurse

BSc, B Nursing Practice, BMBS, FRACGP, Grad Certificate of Wound Care.

Chris is a Nurse Practitioner with a special interest in skin cancer. Chris has been working in the field since 2007 in both professional and volunteer roles and has worked with RFC for the past 5-6 years. Chris was trained in Australia, with further professional training in Italy.
Chris has worked on skin cancer projects with the Lions Cancer Institute of WA for 12 years where he also served as a board member for six years. He still volunteers with the Lions Medical Research Foundation of South Australia delivering skin cancer screening services to regional and remote communities in South Australia and Northern Territory.

Nurse Practitioners work in collaboration with our GPs to deliver primary care medical services and advanced practice nursing. Nurse Practitioners can assess, diagnose and manage your health concerns and are able to provide referrals, prescriptions and diagnostic tests such as X-rays. PLEASE NOTE: Nurse Practitioners DO NOT provide the following services: Chronic Disease Care Plans, Mental Health Care, Driver’s License Assessments, Completion of Centrelink forms, Workover and travel medicine. Please book with your usual GP for these services.

Nick Galatis

Pharmacist

B.Pharm., Cert.Gen Qual Mgmt (Qld)., AACPA., MPS

Nick owned his own pharmacy for many years before becoming credentialled to perform Home Medication Reviews and Residential Medication Management Reviews.

He is a Lead Auditor for the Quality Care Pharmacy Program, has served for three terms on the South Australian Health Practitioners Tribunal. and has given talks to allied health professionals on medications used in asthma management on behalf of Asthma SA.

 Away from work, his interests are Ancient and European History (particularly Tsarist Russian), classical architecture and music.

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