Monash Medical students Denise Bullen, left and Amita Roy, right, presented the work books to Latrobe Special Developmental School students Chelsie, Jack in the chair, and Mahalia, along with School Principal Barb Walsh (pictured behind Jack).

A series of specialist work books have expressed a special thank you for the Latrobe Special Developmental School in Traralgon.

The School takes Gippsland Regional Medical School students on community placements, which help the medical students gain a better understanding of the needs of a wide variety of people.

A number of medical students spent a day at the Special Developmental School, including Denise Bullen and Amita Roy. Both were delighted to present the work books to the School and its students to say thanks for their placement opportunity.

“It was just wonderful,” Denise said. “We were able to spend the whole day at the school and get a different perspective on working with many different people. It was an excellent experience.”

The happy couple … Eleanor Lazarus and Dan Harbison just after Dan proposed. Cold and wet but happy!

Romance has blossomed between two medical students who have spent quite a bit of time in Gippsland.

Eleanor Lazarus, now undertaking Year 4B studies in West Gippsland, and Year 5D student Dan Harbison became engaged last month. The pair was in East Gippsland last year undertaking their Year 3B and 4C studies respectively and have been going out as a couple for a few years now.

Fittingly Dan chose one of the icons of Gippsland, Wilsons Promontory, as the place to pop the question, albeit on a rough and wet day.

After hiking 12 kilometres out to Little Waterloo Bay at the Prom through the rain and mud, Dan found a beautiful place to ask Eleanor to marry him – and luckily she said yes!

According to Eleanor, they were “very wet and cold, but happy.”

“He didn’t quite get down on bended knee, in the mud. But we were sitting on a big rock looking out over the ocean, it was very beautiful!” she added.

Dan is undertaking his final year through Monash and is hoping to go to the Eastern hospital next year. According to Eleanor, the couple plans to marry next year.

Fellow Year 3B student, Willian Bay, congratulates Steve Xu on his permanent residency.

Gippsland Year 3B student Steve Xu had some good news recently, having been granted permanent residency in Australia some three years after first applying.

Steve is now looking to become a true blue Aussie in about 12 months when he can gain citizenship.

Steve came to Australia some 11 years ago as an international student to complete his Year 10 studies. He did very well at secondary school, gaining entry to the Australian National University and completing a Bachelor of Biomedicine with honours.

Steve spent two years working full time and in 2010 applied for permanent residency, with his application approved just last month.

In 2012 he was accepted into Medicine at the Gippsland Medical School and this year is studying at the West Gippsland campus of the Gippsland Regional Clinical School.

Steve is very pleased he can stay in Australia to practice medicine. We also know he would be more than welcome to remain in Gippsland! He has completed the majority of his training in the region while working part time for Gippsland Pathology.

One by one, masked beauties trickled into Traralgon’s Premiere function on the night of Friday July 12th.

The venue was wonderfully decorated with local nature, simulating some sort of fairy’s forest – and the guests looked the part. Glitter, sequins, feathers and (sloth) fur covered the faces of Gippsland Medical School students, perhaps hiding the stress-lines incurred after a busy first semester.

But the GMS masquerade ball was about celebrating the year thus far (the cause of said stress-lines). And that we did.

Quickly, the masks came off in order to better enjoy a few beverages and quality local food, as well as some cheeky sweets from the candy bar. Guests paraded their attire in a photo booth, photos from which became more colourful as the night progressed.

Best dressed awards were awarded to coordinating couples and fancy femmes, and three GMS students dropped their stethoscopes in exchange for musical instruments, showcasing their hidden talents to the cohort.

Thanks to all those who played even the smallest role in organising the GMS masquerade ball, memories of which are now as faint as the remnant glitter on the floors of our bedrooms, with the end of the year seemingly equally as far away.

Look forward to a welcomed repose in semester two, when we can spend an evening on Facebook after the evidence from the photo booth has been uploaded for public viewing (surprise!)

–          By GMS students Julia, Tiarni and Jess.

Elaine Evans and David Birks celebrate their ‘hard labor’ with the School of Rural Health.

Gippsland Regional Clinical School Manager Elaine Evans celebrated a significant anniversary recently, with a surprise morning tea to mark the 20 years since she started at the School of Rural Health.

Elaine was joined by local surgeon and senior lecturer David Birks and Pharmacy Lecturer Anne Leversha, who have also been associated with the School since the very early days of its inception. Elaine’s fellow staff members at Gippsland put on the morning tea to mark Elaine’s two decades of service.

Elaine joined the then Centre for Rural Health when it was based in the tiny office in the former Moe Hospital, where MUDRIH is now based.

A number of her long term colleagues as well as current staff members were on hand to congratulate Elaine … and yes, she was surprised!

Year 4 Bendigo-based medical student, Saada Malouf, has just returned from several weeks in Uganda, part of a team on a visit organised by Monash medical student global health group, TeaMMEd.

Before she went, Saada, who is originally from Gippsland, spoke to the Bendigo Advertiser and what she hoped to achieve on the trip. (Read the article).

The team originally had a choice between Tonga and Uganda, but Saada chose Uganda because it appealed to her more.

The group took numerous medical supplies to help out the local people and to leave supplies once the trip had ended. In a country where people live on $A1.25 a day and a box of band-aids costs about $4.00, the group decided the medical supplies would be valuable.

Saada approached several business and Rotary clubs in Bendigo as well as in her home area of Gippsland to support purchase of the supplies and was delighted with the response.

The students managed to get a feel for stomas thanks to some innovative ‘gown-art.’ The students are pictured with their gowns and artificial stomas.

Learning about stomas, while medically interesting, is perhaps not the most inviting topic.

However Year 3B students at Warragul managed to see the lighter side of stoma study while still learning a lot about the condition, which is a surgically made opening from the inside of an organ to the outside and usually requires some sort of external bag.

Gippsland Regional Clinical School’s Renee Laidlaw (right) and Michelle Livingstone measure up the area for cubicle curtains in the revamped Clinical Skills Room, along with local tradesman Charlie.

The clinical skills training facilities at Gippsland have been undergoing significant upgrades in the past few months.

As well as the opening of the new simulation labs upstairs in the former accommodation floor, the Clinical Skills Room downstairs is also being refurbished as part of a $4 million training precinct shared with Latrobe Regional Hospital and the School of Nursing.

The upstairs area includes two state-of-the-art simulation suites with five of the latest simulator mannequins.  There are also observation rooms, complete with one-way glass and the latest in video monitoring equipment, adjoining the simulation suites.

While the work on the clinical skills area has not been quite as major, it still means a significant improvement in its usability.

The old carpeted floor has been replaced with more appropriate and clinical-looking flooring and a proper basin has been installed. Curtains to create hospital-style cubicles are also being installed.

The overall project means better facilities that will be used by School of Rural Health medical students, the Monash School of Nursing and Midwifery and Latrobe Regional Hospital staff.

West Gippsland-based students had an opportunity to meet and discuss issues around chronic illness with a person suffering from Motor Neurone Disease (MND), thanks to an event organised by community advisory member Mavis Gallienne.

Mavis has been organising such meetings from some years now and the current cohort at the West Gippsland Campus of the Gippsland Regional Clinical School were fortunate to meet local lady Barbara Phillippi.

Barbara has been living with MND for about eight years but remains a fiercely independent woman who is determined to raise awareness of the illness by telling her story.

An active sportswoman, Barbara told the students how she had first noticed that she was starting to trip and stumble for no apparent reason when playing netball.

As the illness progressed she lost the ability to walk and has little use of her arms, but can drive a motorised wheelchair.

The students heard about the frustrations felt by someone who is now almost totally dependent on family and carers. They also learned a lot about the team available to provide assistance, including Barbara’s GP, a neurologist, physiotherapist, dietician, specialist MND nurses and staff for the Victorian Respiratory Support Service, as well as home care support.

In a recent news item in the local newspaper, the Warragul Gazette, Barbara is quoted as saying: “It is really important for people to understand that minds are not affected by this disease.” This was another key message to the students.

The sessions are important for students as it gives them an insight into the whole range of issues, other than the medical, which impact on people with chronic disease. These include the impact on and role of family, services and support mechanisms, as well as the reaction of other people.

Students have also been encouraged to look at other literature available, including a book out at the moment called ‘Until I Say Goodbye.’ It is by Susan Spencer Wendel, a person living with a form of MND.

West Gippsland students are pictured with Barbara Phillippi and community advisory member Mavis Gallienne, at left.

Gippsland Regional Clinical School has hosted the first of a five-day series of workshops as part of an interprofessional program on managing delirious patients.

The workshops include medical students and nursing students and are designed to teach people from different health professions to work together to improve the care of patients.

In this case, the workshops focus on patients with delirium, using case studies and opportunities to practice on a patient actor who is simulating a delirious episode. Managing patients when they are in a state of delirium – which can often include agitated, confused and even aggressive behaviour – can be very difficult.

In years gone by such patients may have been strapped down or sedated but these often caused further issues.

The new program promotes methods such as helping patients to orient themselves by explaining where they are, offering them a phone or a clock, and attempting to de-escalate the agitation. It’s an area of health care in which professionals working together as a team have much better outcomes for the patient.

In the GRCS program, workshops run for about three hours, half in tutorial and half in simulation.

It is the first time GRCS has been involved in the workshops, which also run at Berwick and in Melbourne. The program is based on the PhD studies of Lecturer Debra Kielgaldie and developed by the Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery Professor Wendy Cross and Director of Geriatric Medicine at Eastern Health Professor Peteris Darzins.

Bernadette Hayes is pictured with local students, playing a very convincing role as a confused and demanding elderly patient with delirium.