|
|
Welcome to the RuralUP E-Newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter is to inform, inspire and connect students studying Medicine at Western Sydney University with opportunities to explore careers in rural or remote areas.
|
|
Our subscribers are students, medical practitioners, individuals in rural communities and organisations related to rural health. We encourage you to share the newsletter with others who would like to get involved!
We welcome your contributions - tell us what you have learned, what you have been doing, where you have been.
If you're not already a RuralUP Member don't forget to join - scroll to the bottom of this newsletter for the link and further information.
|
|
|
There's one BIG event coming up that we don't have to organise - and that's CHRISTMAS
So from all of us here working with the Rural Undergraduate Pathway at Western Sydney University, School of Medicine, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and COVID/Lockdown free 2022. Enjoy some time off with family and friends and we look forward to being able to organise more RuralUP events for you to attend and read about next year.
|
|
|
WSU Awards - Congratulations and Well Done!!
|
|
|
|
The awards ceremony has been held and congratulations to all the students listed below on their wonderful achievements.
- Lilly Gosbell received first place overall (Dux) and first place for ‘academic excellence & professionalism’
- Houston Xue received 2nd place overall and first place in O & G oral examinations, first place in Internal Medicine
- Kevin Chan - Excellence in Medical Education
- Lima Petersen - Academic Excellence in the Indigenous programme
- The Research Team ( Kevin, Houston, Jack M, Jack C, Jonah) won Academic Excellence in Mental Health (research)
|
|
|
Tamworth Aboriginal Health Attachment
Two of our students, Praween Senanayake and Ewe Shen Lim, recently enjoyed a great placement with the Tamworth Aboriginal Medical Service.
|
|
|
Winners are Grinners!!
With the lightening up of COVID-19 restrictions across NSW the Bathurst Multi Sports Summer Competition has now commenced.
The name of the game for the first round was Futsal and our team of Western Sydney Medical students, ably assisted by Nathan Rollinson, came out winners on the day with a resounding victory of 10 goals to 1!!! The MVP of the game was Emma Gregory, so well done Emma!
Pictured L to R: Nathan Rollinson, Georgia McMillan, Emma Gregory, Jess Cesca, Melissa Ind, Annabelle Stephenson
|
|
|
A Loss but Still Smiling
A couple of 'ring ins' contributed to the WSU Medical Students team for round 2 (thanks to Nathan Rollinson's daughter and two of her friends), which meant there was a couple of subs available for the Basketball round of the Bathurst Multi Sports Summer competition.
Although they went down to a bunch of rather tall mechanics - 32 to 28, they showed great sportsmanship and kept that smile in place 😃
The team played a great game on the night despite the loss, and the MVP for this game was Annabelle Stephenson.
Pictured L to R:
Back Row: Mia McClemens, Grace Fernley, Christina Kim, Kevin Chan, Annabelle Stephenson,
Front Row: Amali Rollinson, Geoffrey Mai, Alisha Panambalana, Ragulan Babeendran
|
|
|
And then there was Volleyball.....
The name of the game this week was volleyball and the students were back in the winners circle with a 32 to 30 victory in the dying minutes.
Multi Sports each week is giving the Medical students the opportunity to get together in a social setting, have a bit of fun and exercise and even meet a few new people.
|
|
BREX November 2021 (Finally!!)
After having to postpone this BREX event twice due to COVID-19 restrictions it finally went ahead on the 12th and 13th of November. Unfortunately the weather then got the better of us and the scenarios that should of been taking place at Dr Ross Wilson's farm had to be held indoors.
|
|
|
Cue the use of the Education Room at the Bathurst Ambulance Station (thanks to Adam Parker one of our Paramedic Educators) to replace the farm, this proved to be extremely successful and kept everyone out of the inclement weather. This space was used in conjunction with the Education spaces and the Demo room in the Heritage Building at the Bathurst Hospital and between both spaces the event was able to go ahead and it proved to be a very successful weekend.
|
|
|
Despite the inclement weather, the weekend of activities went very smoothly. The students where given the opportunity to progress through four (4) Clinical skill stations and practise their skills on Friday afternoon, before returning early on Saturday morning to complete four (4) Clinical Scenarios.
- Farm Safety
- BASIC Trauma
- Paediatric Asthma
- Recognising serious illness in an elderly patient in a rural setting
Having some first rate educators to run these scenarios was the key, and they were able to guide and advise the students when needed.
One of the actors even ended up being an actual patient with a dose of pneumonia, and on advice from the medical staff on hand ended up going to the hospital for real, but he was thankfully discharged and is now recovering back at home in Blayney. We all wish him a speedy recovery.
|
|
All the students enjoyed getting out of Sydney for a couple of days with their trip to Bathurst (despite the weather) and there was some tremendously positive responses in the feedback from all of the students, which makes the whole event very worth while.
The BREX event will be run again in 2022 so if you'd like to be included, keep your eyes peeled for the announcement and then apply ASAP as it always fills up fast .
|
|
|
|
30 Nov - 5 Dec: Community Health Checks and COVID Management at the Repco Bathurst 1000
WOW! What a Week!!
This year due to COVID, two race car events were combined into one 'Super' racing week in Bathurst, which ran for a very busy 6 days.
So once again we assisted the V8 Supercars in the running of their endurance car race, by having our Medicine and other Health Discipline students volunteer to be COVID Marshalls whilst we also provided free Health Checks to the racegoers., they where very much appreciated whilst we ran them and we even had Santa Clause come to get his blood pressure checked.
|
|
|
Even though Uni had finished for the year, student volunteers had the opportunity to come to Bathurst and build on their clinical, professional and interpersonal skills when conducting the free Health Checks at the Western Sydney University information stand, as well as fine tune their 'chatting' abilities whilst providing their services as COVID Marshalls to the large crowd from all around Australia and even a few international travellers.
|
|
|
|
The weather for the week was quite hot and sunny, and the free sunscreen and water made available at the WSU tent proved a big hit with the race fans and there is no doubt that we saved a lot of patrons from heading home sun burnt and dehydrated, including a number of current and ex WSU staff and students.
|
|
|
|
One of the GT's the students got to have a "HOT" lap of the Mount in.
|
|
A number of lucky students and Nathan Rollinson scored themselves a "HOT Lap" in the GT's on Saturday morning after doing their COVID Marshalling on the Grid, and were on a high all day after the high speed lap of the mount - just one of the perks of the job!
All the students who came and gave their time at this unique event, left us saying what a great experience they had and a lot of them would like to come again next year.
|
|
|
|
We received this lovely email from one of the nursing students who volunteered at the Supercars event.
"Thanks so much for the opportunity to volunteer yesterday. I had an incredible day, an experience I will never forget. I can tick that off my bucket list now and remember my first Bathurst experience for a lifetime." - Kellie
|
|
|
RHUWS Online Event - ZOOM High School Careers Promotion
To finish out the year the RHUWS (Rural Health Club WSU) hosted an online information session for high school students aimed at promoting rural health careers and courses along with developing study skills.
The 2 hour session involved four work stations:
|
|
|
- WSU Careers and Uni presentation + Student Panel Q & A
- Q & A Station
- Farm Workshop Safety
- Study Skills Workshop
The day was very successful and thanks to the RHUWS members for supporting this event.
If you're not already a RHUWS member make sure you sign up and tell your friends who are also doing a Health Discipline Course with WSU, to also sign up so that you can all join in with some of our AMAZING events.
|
|
The Last Event for 2021 - A Lithgow Community Drop in Day
Maldhan Ngurr Ngurra Lithgow Transition Hub (WSU Lithgow Campus) hosted a community drop in day to allow the local residences of Lithgow to explore the facility and get some hands on experience with various activities that the University offers. Including an interactive health workshop by Bathurst Rural Clinical School Engagement Officer - Nathan Rollinson, focusing on:
- CPR, Advanced First Aid and Assessing Vital Health Indicators.
|
|
The message below was posted on the NSW Rural Doctors Network page and whilst it is aimed at GP's and other Medical Practitioners', if you click on some of the links there is some very good information, posters, videos etc.
A MESSAGE FROM NSW HEALTH: RESOURCES TO INCREASE UPTAKE OF COVID-19 VACCINE IN ABORIGINAL PEOPLE
NSW Health recommends proactively contacting Aboriginal patients who have not been vaccinated to ensure their safety, particularly as travel across the state continues to increase.
Contacting or re-contacting Aboriginal patients to offer a vaccination information appointment (see MBS items) has proven successful in many metro, regional and rural practices. GPs, practice nurses and practice managers report that using culturally appropriate SMS scripts are helpful in supporting this process.
These actions may assist in addressing these barriers:
|
Share videos and other information for Aboriginal people about vaccines through your patient communication channels.
|
|
|
IN THE WORKPLACE AND BEYOND
|
|
|
NSW Rural Doctors Network
This is a website and newsletter that we follow and we have come across this wonderful initiative #RuralPositive, have a look for yourselves - it's worth it!!
This is an extract from their site:
|
|
|
We wanted to let you know about a new campaign #RuralPositive facilitated by NSW Rural Doctors Network (RDN) to thank rural health professionals for their dedication and resilience over the last few years of drought, bushfires, flood, mice and COVID-19.
To all our rural GPs, nurses, allied health practitioners, nurses, midwives, Aboriginal health practitioners, practice managers, carers, pharmacists, paramedics, receptionists and administrators – everyone who is part of the rural workforce, we want to thank and celebrate the great work you are doing each day to keep your communities healthy.
Individuals, organisations and businesses are being asked to post messages on the #RuralPositive website. Visit our 'thank you wall' to see just how much RDN and the community value your extraordinary efforts.
We hope this initiative will help boost morale and foster wellbeing of our rural health professionals. Keeping our health workforce strong, well and capable during these challenging times is important to us.
The campaign will run throughout November and has already received enormous support.
You can watch the campaign video and individual messages of support here.
 |
|
Daryl Braithwaite Concert and Interview Talking About Rural Health
This is definitely worth a listen and was published on 23 November 2021 thanks to the NSW Rural Doctors Network .
These concerts where a way to say thanks to the Rural Health Professionals for the extraordinary efforts during difficult times. They are part of the #RURALPOSITIVE initiative that NSW Rural Doctors Network facilitated throughout November to say thanks and praise health workers.
So do yourself a favour and click on the link below.
https://www.ruralhealthpro.org/s/on-demand-video/a2J2P0000000NO2UAM/daryl-braithwaite-concert
|
|
The Land We're On With Penelope Towney
Meet Penelope Towney, she's the 7 year old daughter of one of our Medicine students Billy Towney, who is currently completing his 12 month placement here in Bathurst.
|
|
|
Penelope has made a short film that aired on SBS in October, where she performs an Acknowledgement of Country for the Dharawal and Yuin Nations.
Penelope then speaks about performing Welcomes to Country, Acknowledgements of Country, and why they are such an important tradition to carry on, she speaks Wiradjuri, Palawa Kani and English during the film. The Land We're On is filmed between Bellambi Point and East Corrrimal on Dharawal/Yuin Country.
Penelope is an wonderful representative of her people and this will not be the last we see of her. Billy is obviously an amazing dad and influence on his daughter and I'm sure he is incredibly proud of her. She is one remarkable 7 year old!!
Unfortunately the link on the SBS site to Penelope's short film has expired, but you should keep your eye out for future productions.
In the meantime click on the link below for an informative interview with Penelope on KidsNews about her short film.
https://www.kidsnews.com.au/humanities/year-2-student-makes-short-film-to-reflect-on-the-land-were-on/news-story/037c3048ff2aa85118f786b755797fc2
|
|
CONGRATULATIONS LAURA BEAUMONT!!
|
|
|
2021 ACRRM President’s Prize awarded to medical students Laura Beaumont and Tia Gordon
Date Published: Oct 25, 2021
Each year, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM) President’s Prize is awarded to two budding medical students who are passionate about a career in rural generalism.
The 2021 recipients of this award are Laura Beaumont and Tia Gordon who were hand selected by ACRRM President, Dr Sarah Chalmers, from a large pool of impressive applicants.
Dr Chalmers says, “it’s a difficult task to pick only two winners from the large number of excellent applications submitted by our next generation of Rural Generalists.”
“The understanding and acknowledgement of rural generalism as a profession has come such a long way so far, and with the aspirations of this generation, it’s encouraging to see the future of rural and remote healthcare is in excellent hands,” says Dr Chalmers.
Laura is a third-year medical student at Western Sydney University and, besides clinical medicine, is passionate about promoting rural health and wishes to become involved in advocating for the needs of small country communities. Growing up in a small town herself, Laura’s goal is to return to a similar environment, equipped with the medical skills necessary to help take care of the community.
“Through my studies, the rurally-practising doctors that I have encountered truly embody what I believe it means to be a ‘good doctor,’ and I am extremely grateful to ACRRM for this opportunity, taking me one step closer to realising my own career in rural medicine,” says Laura.
Tia is a Ghungalu/Bidjara woman from Queensland and a final year medical student at Flinders University in Darwin. Tia moved to the Northern Territory to study medicine because she is passionate about Indigenous health and rural medicine.
“My main career goal is to experience as many varied rural and remote regions as possible, from Aboriginal communities around Australia to the Antarctic territories,” Tia says.
Upon accepting this award Tia explained, "I feel very honoured to receive the ACRRM President's Prize, winning this award at the conference for rural generalism really reaffirms my excitement for my future career pathway.”
|
|
|
|
Sun rising over the Lachlan River at Condobolin
|
|
This time the spotlight is on Condobolin, or Condo as it's affectionately know as.
When it comes to charming country towns, you can't get much better than Condobolin. It's small enough to stay endearing and large enough to keep you entertained.
|
|
|
Set on the banks of the Lachlan River, it's a great spot for fishing and water sports, plus has plenty of cultural heritage. Condo also sits pretty much right in the centre of NSW .
We have quite a few of our Medicine students spend some time in Condobolin on their 4-5 week Indigenous placements, working with the local Aboriginal Medical Service.
This year two of our Med students, Tiffany and Christina, spent 4 weeks in Condo in August during lockdown, which meant they had to spend their whole time there and see the sights. Here's their report and just a few of the many photos they sent in.
|
|
In the beginning we did a pit stop at Forbes and bought some 'pub grub' as Christina affectionately puts it... we then drove up to Condo and they had amazing (literally) sculptures on the drive that we stopped to take photos of.
On our arrival, we discovered the lovely mandarin fruit tree in the backyard which was of great use during our time here.
|
|
|
During the first week, we were able to attend the community gym classes, art classes and hosted the cooking class! I've included a photo of our elite chef team where we made dumplings and ANZAC biscuits. We also had a staff dinner to farewell one of the receptionist staff at the Railway Hotel - the chicken scnitty was to die for!
On our first weekend here (pre-statewide lockdown), Christina and I headed into Griffith. We stopped by Lake Cargelligo on the way & also on the way back! We managed to encounter lovely canola fields to take some photos in. Once we reached Griffith, we had a lovely Italian inspired lunch given the Italian history of the town, stopped by the patisseries, got some gelato and toured the local art gallery. We went to the Catania Fruit Salad farm as well where we bought some jam, prunes and got some free fresh fruit! We also visited the Hermit's Cave in Griffith.
|
|
|
We've been doing lots of baking in addition to our usual lunches and dinners - basque cheesecake, mandarin cake (twice!), choc chip cookies, lemon cookies; and eating lots of baked goods from the staff here (pavlova and carrot cake).
|
|
|
|
|
We also visited the Bolo Chapel one weekend which was an interesting drive to get to - drove through two sheep yards to get there! It was quite a sight to behold. We also had a sunset picnic at Lake Cargelligo's Deadman's point.
|
|
The main attractions here have been Gum Bend Lake, where we have done a few sunset walks, and Mt. Tilga which was a great activity for exercise! Today we intend to do the lake walk one last time and finally see the Utes in the Paddock exhibition once we pack the majority of our things.
We've thoroughly enjoyed our time here (despite the circumstances) and the team have been so accommodating.
|
|
Written by Western Sydney Medicine students Tiffany and Christina
August/September 2021
|
|
|
|
