Coast mourns a medical great

The Central Coast is mourning the death of Dr Tony Adams of Avoca Beach, who died peacefully using voluntary assisted dying on August 7 at the age of 89.

He was respected by the medical fraternity worldwide and is largely credited with seeing fluoridation introduced to the region after his retirement.

He was much loved and respected by family, friends and colleagues from around the world, and by his son, Erik and partner, Dr Romaine Rutnam.

“Tony was very relieved when the VAD law came into effect in NSW, and relieved that he was able to access a quality assisted death in the public hospital system last month,” Dr Rutnam said, who is also a DWD NSW campaigner and life member.

Dr Tony Adams was “medical royalty”, according to the paramedics who collected him at his home for the last time.

He was the Chief Health Officer of NSW before moving to Canberra to become Australia’s longest-serving Chief Medical Officer, from 1988 to 1997.

He was a pioneer of public health and a founding member of Australia’s premier public health organisation, the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA).

He played a leading role in Australia’s best-practice response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and also oversaw the closing of the infamous Quarantine Station on Sydney Harbour at Manly.

At the international level, Tony Adams played a pivotal role within the World Health Organisation, contributing to the near eradication of polio in South-East Asia and in the Western Pacific regions as a member of the WHO polio eradication certification commission, spending a decade as its global head.

He retired in 2016, after 20 years working at the global level with World Health Organisation experts at its headquarters in Geneva.

One of his dreams was to see polio abolished from this planet.

“We are saddened by the loss of a genuine hero and pioneer of public health in Australia,” PHAA CEO, Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin, said.

“My deepest condolences to his family and all who loved him.

“We all are a little diminished by his loss, but we are far more enriched for his contributions in life.”

Dr Rutnam said she had received a card from the current President of the Central Coast Philharmonia remembering Dr Adams’  “lovely bass voice and great leadership as our president”.

“I recall him serving as secretary of the choir too, prior to taking over as president,” she said.

“He was responsible for convening the group that led to the old Gosford and Wyong (councils) fluoridating their water supplies.

“Quite recently he told me that his dentist had mentioned that due to its success, most dentists were having to make their money from cosmetic work since they no longer had to ‘drill and fill’ young people’s teeth.”