Outback opens doors for future health workers

The visiting medical students at the Port of Bourke Hotel with Welcome Co-ordinator Kelly Lienesch and Bourke Shire Council GM Leonie Brown. Photo TWH

A group of budding healthcare professionals arrived in Bourke last weekend as part of the Rural Doctors Network’s (RDN) Go Rural bus tour – a project designed to give early-degree university students a real taste of life and work in regional communities.

The tour, which also stops in Bourke, Brewarrina and Walgett among other communities, included 20 students studying medicine, nursing and midwifery from universities across NSW and the ACT.

The initiative aims to plant the seed early, encouraging the next generation of health workers to return to the bush after graduation.

When arriving in Bourke, the students were given a tour and talk of the Bourke Community Garden’s project, Bourke Aboriginal Corporations Health Service, and the Back O’Bourke Exhibition Centre, guided by the teams at REDI.E, BACHS, RDA-Orana NSW, and Broken Hill University Department of Health (BHUDRH | University of Sydney).

Respected community leader and board member of the Bourke Aboriginal Corporation Health Service, Phil Sullivan, performed a Welcome to Country to begin the evening dinner and spoke to the group about the importance of culture, connection, and communication in regional healthcare. Mr Sullivan was happy to have a captive audience.

“I’ve got 20-odd doctors and nurses sitting in this room, and I’m really glad to be honoured to have a yarn about this sort of stuff,” Mr Sullivan said.

“It’s a great gift to have, to look after people, and I hope that you keep coming back again and again.”

Read more local news in the printed edition of The Western Herald.

To subscribe call (02) 6872 2333 today and receive The Western Herald in your letterbox next week!