Community
4 December, 2024
Grad nurse loving life in Outback Queensland
Katie Vidler says the Camooweal experience has been a positive eye-opener.
Registered nurse Katie Vidler has spent six months treating the kinds of injuries that can only befoul people in rural and remote communities.
The 22-year-old Brisbane native graduated from the University of Queensland last year and took up a position in the North West Hospital and Health Service nurse graduate program.
She is now based in Camooweal, where she has been for the past four months, as one of only five staff based at the new facility.
“This is my first year out of university and as part of the program I spent six months in Mount Isa and then got a rotation to Camooweal for six months – so after that I might apply to stay here,” she said.
“I really like working in Camooweal – it is so incredibly different to anything I can see in Brisbane.
“I have treated the kinds of injuries that can only happen in a place like this – you get a lot of injuries from people who have fallen off a horse, or people on stations who have injured themselves while out operating a tractor or you get angle grinder injuries – it is stuff you would never see in a city setting.
“Your skill set and experience just grows so fast out here and you are exposed to incidents you wouldn’t get to experience in a bigger hospital.
“There definitely has been a lot of challenges in Camooweal recently, especially like the fires – but the community just comes together when something like that happens. Everyone is very willing to help anyone – and that is something very new to me, coming from the city.
“This is one of the best places to work for anyone who wants to dip their toe in to decide if they want to work in a remote community – this is a brand new, excellent facility and the staff provide so much support and it’s a wonderful community as well.
“I like hanging out with the townspeople – you get invited out to the stations for drinks or you can go to the drovers centre down the road – everyone here is really nice and welcoming – it’s a really social place.”