November 2023

Firstly - what is RH+?

No not Rhesus Factor, it is Charles Sturt Universities Rural Health Club. Made up of students from every CSU health discipline, this club aims to promote rural health to both CSU students and the wider community.

What did the Rural Health School Outreach Program in 2023 look like?

There were eight volunteers from medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and physiotherapy, including myself and Heidi from third year med.

We had a jam packed itinerary of promoting rural health careers to four schools in four days! Starting in Albury, Wiradjuri Country, on Sunday November 11^th we enjoyed a lovely meal at the local Kinross Woolshed next to the CSU campus.

On Monday we headed to St Paul’s College in Walla Walla and ate at the local Walla Food Mill before heading to Morgan’s Lookout, named after bushranger Mad Dog Morgan. We continued on for some refreshments (tastings!!) at Corowa Whiskey and Chocolate Factory, before spending the afternoon relaxing and swimming in the Murray River.

Tuesday we grabbed a 10/10 coffee at the café Docs (how fitting) and headed to both Yarrawonga College and Oaklands Central School. Oaklands Central is K-12 and the entire high school from year 7-12 attended which ended up being a total of… 7 students!

At each of the schools we did a spiel on the different health careers available and broke off into individual stations including CPR and snake bite, and we also gave away tonnes of free socks. I don’t know who had more fun us or the kids.

Tuesday afternoon we checked out Finley (one of the towns Wagga students are lucky enough to go to for placement), and enjoyed the Finley Pioneer Railway Museum before Taco Tuesday night at Berrigan Pub.

Wednesday, last stop was Deniliquin High School before we headed our separate ways!

A fantastic way to start the holidays, promote rural health careers and explore NSW and Vic, would highly recommend!

If this is something that interests you look out for call outs to join events throughout the year and there are still executive positions available for 2024 if you would like to join the RH+ team!

Before OSCEs I jetted over to Hobart/nipaluna to represent the NRHSN (National Rural Health Student Network) at RMA23. NRHSN represent the rural health clubs across universities Australia wide, working to support clubs but also advocate for change in the industries that we as students will be soon entering. This past year I’ve been publications and sponsorship officer, but will be taking on Vice Chair Operations in 2024. If you’re ever interested in engaging or taking on a role please chat with me!

The theme of this year’s conference was “walk on the wild side”, and although we spent a fair bit of time manning our stall we also got to catch a bunch of inspiring talks and do plenty of socialising. In particular I loved the talk on “geographical narcissism” by Dr Malin Fors and an incredible panel on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in a post-referendum Australia. I learnt much about governing bodies like ACRRM and RDAA and met many inspiring rural doctors from across Australia. There were also lots of students present; some presenting research, some presenting on forums etc (like some of our current third years did last year), and some attending on bursaries or as student volunteers (a great opportunity). There’s also heaps of merch on offer; my favourite freebies were “Stronger” by Dr Dinesh and an OCP foil pack keyring. Another highlight was learning line dancing at the Future Gens night (made easier by an open bar) followed by karaoke with some of Australia’s most esteemed rural generalists.

NRHSN also presented on our current advocacy (campaigning for a loan similar to the OS-Help loan but for rural placements) and hosted a forum with other rural health club students on the great work they’re doing (see Caitlin’s above piece for some insight into this).

I highly recommend attending RMA if you can make it work with our exam schedule. Next year is in Darwin and I hope to see a few of us there!

Between the dates of the 15th and 18th of November I attended the 2023 Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA) Conference in Hobart, Tasmania (nipaluna, lutruwita). This conference brings together Indigenous Doctors, Medical students, health researchers, health professionals and allies to speak on matters regarding Aboriginal health as well as run a number of workshops on culture and skills to strengthen our community. 

I was fortunate enough to be supported by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists to attend the conference this year. They invited me to attend their pre conference workshop on the first day discussing a career in psychiatry as well as the unique differences between Aboriginal spirituality and psychosis. This was followed by a student night which allowed me to meet some amazing First Nation students from universities across Australia.

The second day was members day where we had an initial welcome followed by an outstanding speech by Todd Fernando on the experience of Aboriginal people who also identify in the LGBTQI+ community. I then chose to attend a Women’s Circle and a Bush Foods Yarn and Demonstration which was a fantastic way to connect with other First Nations people as well as connect with my own culture. I particularly liked the bush foods demonstration as many of the foods had medicinal uses such as antibiotics. We then had a welcome reception featuring delicious foods such as fresh Hobart oysters! 

On day 3 Professor Kelvin Kong gave an insightful speech on accidental leadership as Doctors and discussed the important role of First Nation Doctors in providing care to our people. At this time First Nation people make up only 0.001% of surgeons and 0.003% of specialist GPs. AIDA hopes to work to address this inequity. I then had the opportunity to chair the RANZCO eye workshop where we were shown many screening tools, taught how to suture an eye and how to remove foreign bodies. After a few more speeches such as one on the AIDA SRCs trip to Arnhem Land I attended an ED ultrasound workshop where we learned how to do an echocardiogram, vascular ultrasound and a general ultrasound. That night we were free to explore Hobart! 

Last day was a day of presentations. My favourites were one by Tyson Mpetyane Carmody on his company Kings Narrative which uses cultural healing practices to assist Aboriginal men in improving their mental health and a talk on Ngangkari Aboriginal traditional healing clinics. The highlight of course was the Gala dinner held at the Glen Albyn Estate which was so beautiful. At the Gala dinner we celebrated the success of our Aboriginal Doctors and medical students. 

Overall, this conference was a life changing experience and I suggest all my First Nation Colleagues to sign up to AIDA and try to attend next year which will be in Adelaide but more excitingly is the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors Congress (PRIDoC). 

AIDA also invites Ally’s to their conferences so if anyone who is non-Aboriginal would also like the opportunity to attend I strongly recommend you do and would love to see you there!