Continuing its long-term partnership with Heart of Australia, PACCAR has delivered its eighth truck, which will be used to transport another mobile healthcare clinic – called HEART 8 – for rural, remote, and First Nations communities across Australia.
The latest vehicle comes in the form of a DAF XF 530hp prime mover. The truck and B-double trailers will be built on the same specs as HEART 7, launched in November 2025, ahead of its local launch in Newman, Western Australia, in February. That mobile health clinic marked the expansion of Heart of Australia’s expansion in the west – and the delivery of the National Lung Cancer Screening Program to communities across the Pilbara, Midwest, and Kimberley.
Like the HEART 7 prime mover, the new HEART 8 prime mover will be paired with a purpose-built B-double that includes two consult rooms, a cardiac testing room, radiology room, CT and X-ray equipment, a lung function room and audiometry booth.
PACCAR Australia began its relationship with Heart of Australia in 2014, when the organisation – founded by Dr Rolf Gomes – launched its first mobile healthcare clinic.
To help get the program up and running, PACCAR provided Gomes with a prime mover – a Kenworth K200 – to tow his first mobile clinic called HEART 1. This ensured the fit-for-purpose healthcare trailer could be driven across country Queensland to deliver cardiology and other specialist medicine to rural and remote communities, where access to these kinds of life-saving services was typically limited to metropolitan areas.
“Since the early days of HEART 1, PACCAR have helped us turn a big idea into a tangible outcome bringing specialist healthcare to people in the bush,” said Gomes. “Their ongoing commitment has given us the confidence to keep scaling our fleet and expand our reach into far-flung communities across the nation, so that more Australians can receive equitable access to life-saving healthcare.”
Since that first truck in 2014, PACCAR has gone on to supply Heart of Australia with seven prime movers, including two Kenworth K200 prime movers for HEART 1 and HEART 2, and five DAF prime movers for HEART 4, HEART 5, HEART 6, HEART 7, and HEART 8.
Building on that, PACCAR will also support Heart of Australia through their remaining national expansion rollout with prime movers for three additional clinics – HEART 9, HEART 10 and HEART 11.
Today, Heart of Australia is bringing mobile health clinics to over 30 communities in Queensland and 10 communities in northern Western Australia. Once HEART 8 hits the road in May, this will be expanded to include 17 communities in the Northern Territory.
HEART 8 will be Heart of Australia’s first mobile clinic deployed to service the Northern Territory. The 17 communities it will visit are located in the outback, along the coastline and surrounded by sea.
HEART 8 will be regularly staffed by a radiographer, a medical aide and, of course, a truck driver.
Lucy Thomas, Fleet Manager and Lead Truck Driver at Heart of Australia added, “PACCAR provide invaluable support to our team of drivers on the ground. When you’re hauling a mobile clinic thousands of kilometres through the bush – fitted with specialised medical equipment – we need a truck that is reliable and capable. PACCAR always delivers.”
Article reproduced courtesy of Big Rigs Magazine (March 2026).
Writer: Danielle Gullaci