Spartan First Imaging (SFI), Australia's first Indigenous medical imaging service for radiology and nuclear medicine, was among a number of Indigenous businesses honoured at the recent WA Business Awards.
Spartan First Imaging was a finalist in the Employer of the Year category, which was won by Mader Group.
The company is led by CEO and director Des Headland and clinical lead and director Pete Tually.
Mr Tually told National Indigenous Times being named a finalist in the WA Business Awards is "incredibly meaningful".
"It recognises not just our business achievements, but the purpose behind Spartan which is to deliver world-class, culturally safe medical imaging in a region that has historically been underserved," he said.
"For an Indigenous-owned start-up operating in remote Western Australia, this acknowledgement validates our hard work, innovation, and collaboration. It also shines a light on the health inequities we are working to address and gives our team, our community partners, and our emerging Indigenous workforce a sense of pride and momentum."
Mr Tually said Spartan First Imaging was born from a shared determination to close the diagnostic gap in regional and Indigenous healthcare.
"For years, residents of Kalgoorlie and surrounding communities had limited access to specialised cardiac and lung imaging, often requiring costly and disruptive travel to Perth. We saw an opportunity and a responsibility to create a service that combined clinical excellence with cultural safety," he said.
"TeleMed's long history in rural imaging, together with Spartan First's deep roots in Indigenous leadership and community engagement, came together to form a model that could genuinely shift health outcomes. Ultimately, SFI was inspired by the belief that where you live or who you are should not determine the quality of care you receive."
Spartan First services to the community are vital. Cardiac disease, cancer, and chronic illness are disproportionately high in the Goldfields, yet the region previously lacked advanced diagnostic capabilities like cardiac CT and low-dose oncology imaging. By delivering these services locally, Spartan First reduce unnecessary travel, shorten diagnostic delays, and keep people close to their families.
"Culturally safe care is especially critical for Indigenous patients, who too often avoid or delay investigations due to negative past experiences," Mr Tually said.
"We want to go beyond a clinical health service to represent a community asset that improves outcomes, access, and trust."
The company has "an ambitious, long-term vision".
"We are preparing to introduce additional advanced imaging services, expand our telemedicine and AI-driven diagnostic capabilities, and commence training programs for local Indigenous youth to build a sustainable clinical workforce," Mr Tually said.
"We also anticipate establishing a second site and, as funding and partnerships permit, developing a fixed PET/CT service with future theranostic capabilities.
"Our goal is to create a regional centre of excellence that brings cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic imaging to remote Western Australia delivered by local people, for local people."
On the night of the Awards, Mr Tually sent "a huge congratulations" to all the other finalists, and to the overall winner, Mader Group, "for their inspiring stories of courage, persistence, and real impact on WA communities".
