General News
29 January, 2025
Allied health graduates happy to be living and working in Outback
Three friends made the move to Mount Isa to work in rural and remote health.
While news pages can often be filled with stories about the shortage of medical professionals in rural and remote Australia, it is good to report on three young allied health workers who have volunteered to begin their careers in the North West.
Erin Weekes and Heidi Kruger graduated as occupational therapists last year, while Lucy Cooper recently completed her schooling as an exercise physiotherapist.
Last week, the trio began their first professional roles at North & West Remote Health (NWRH) in Mount Isa.
They will soon travel the length and breadth of the region, seeing patients stretching from Mount Isa and Camooweal to Boulia and Birdsville.
Their positions are not tied to requirements of a graduate program or a scholarship – Erin, Heidi and Lucy said they all wanted to live and work in a remote setting because of the unique range of skills and life experiences a region such as the North West offered.
The Brisbane natives knew each other during their university days and decided to collectively move to the North West for their first professional positions.
Their studies required them to complete 1000 hours of clinical placement, which they separately undertook in locations ranging from St George to Rockhampton and Weipa, as well as East Timor.
Erin told North West Weekly it was during these placements that she began to consider commencing her career in a rural location.
“I think it was these placements that inspired us to look seriously at working in a rural community,” she said.
“You get a real sense of community. You make formal and informal connections because you see patients a lot more often and you get to know them.
“You can feel like you can make more of an impact.”
Heidi said the opportunity to travel and meet people from diverse life experiences and different cultural backgrounds was a major drawcard to take up the position.
“I am so excited to get out and start travelling through the region as well as getting the opportunity to live somewhere as remote as here,” she said.
“In the city I never had the opportunity to work with someone of Aboriginal or Torres Strait descent and I am looking forward to helping them and learning from them.”
Lucy said she knew very little about Mount Isa but understood the struggles rural communities face in attracting medical workers.
“I travelled to some of the smaller towns when I was on my placement in Rockhampton and saw the lack of resources and the need for medical services. That really interested me and made me want to move to Western Queensland,” she said.
“We will be doing things you just wouldn’t be able to do in private practice in the city.”