THE next generation of rural doctors is set to be educated in Swan Hill, with the historic opening of Charles Sturt University Mallee Clinical School.
In partnership with Swan Hill District Health, the ribbon was officially cut last week and the school declared open by CSU School of Rural Medicine dean Lesley Forster and Member for Mallee Anne Webster.
“In my maiden speech in parliament just three years ago, I spoke about health care and the fact that our health status should not depend on our postcode, but all too frequently it does,” Dr Webster said.
“We know that research shows us that 73 per cent of people who study in the regions will remain in the regions. That is an incredibly important number.”
With the average age of Australia’s rural doctors continuing to increase, Professor Forster believes regional schools are essential in rebuilding the rural medicine workforce.
“Our whole entity is built around the concept of having a school where rural people can come to have a higher-quality education, to become doctors while living and studying in the country,” Prof Forster said.
“The aim is to encourage rural people to become rural doctors, which will help their communities survive.
“They need to be independent and resilient in order to work on their own and look after rural people, and most of all they need to want to work in the country.”
A student who is keen to take on that task is Heidi Annand, who is part of the first cohort of young doctors at the Swan Hill school.
“Rural is a slower pace of lifestyle, it’s a greater appreciation of certain things, it’s a different value set to being in the city, especially when studying medicine, which can be a really competitive and difficult environment,” Ms Annand said.
“Why not stay supported, not only in an environment that you know and love already, but that is genuinely a more supportive and community-based environment?
“We are all interested in working with and for the community, so it makes sense to do that in the country.”
