Camden Schwarz Family practice celebrates 40 year milestone

From humble beginnings in the family home to running one of the largest medical centres in southwest Sydney, Dr John Schwarz still has his finger on the pulse 40 years after opening his practice.

The Schwarz Family Practice has been providing care to patients in the Camden and Macarthur regions – with Dr John Schwarz opening his practice the exact same day that medicare started across the country.

With both celebrating the significant milestone this February, Dr Schwarz shared insight into how his medical career has transformed over the decades.

From his time working in South Africa during the apartheid, to his esteemed local practice in Macarthur; Dr Schwarz describes his life as a doctor to have been ‘extremely rewarding and satisfying’.

Dr John Schwarz and his wife Rosalie Schwarz.

The nw Camden Surgical Hospital next door to Schwarz Family Practice. Picture: Inasha Iftekhar

“Being a GP gives you the opportunity to make a difference and make an impact in people’s lives,” he said.

“I wouldn’t trade what I’ve done with anyone, it’s been enormously satisfying.

“I wrote letters all over the world to hospitals and organisations to go somewhere where they really needed a doctor.”

Dr John Schwarz working in South Africa. Picture: Rosalie Schwarz

Dr John Schwarz working in South Africa. Picture: Rosalie Schwarz

After finishing his medicine degree at the University of Sydney in 1973, he worked at Royal North Shore and Mona Vale Hospitals for just 2 years before relocating his wife and four kids to Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.

Dr John Schwarz first clinic and family home. Picture: Inasha Iftekhar

Dr Schwarz worked as a Superintendent in a mission hospital along with his wife who is a nurse, for nine years with four children, before returning to Australia with their youngest son as a family of seven.

“We went across there and saw all these orphans since so many young mothers had AIDs and died giving birth, and many of their babies also contracted AIDs and died,” he said.

Dr John Schwarz treating a baby in South Africa. Picture: Rosalie Schwarz

“We just saw this very miserable terrible thing happening and you would see teens burying people in their backyard because so many people were dying…

“We had a ward with children with kwashiorkor and I would stay up all night some days trying to save these children from dying.”

Dr John Schwarz and his wife Rosalie, established the African AIDS Foundation (AAF) and were awarded the Order of Australia medal in recognition of their work in 2013.

Dr John Schwarz working in South Africa. Picture: Rosalie Schwarz

Dr John Schwarz and his wife Rosalie Schwarz. Picture: Rosalie Schwarz

The Schwarz Family practice in Camden now has 15 consultation rooms, 2 nurses stations, and a pharmacy and is run by his daughter and son-in-law, Dr Jane and Matthew Gray.

Dr Schwarz also opened a state-of-the-art surgical hospital next door last year, to meet the needs of the growing Macarthur-Camden region.