Congratulations to Lauren and Ben Webb on the safe arrival of Joshua Alan (pictured) on Saturday 4 May.  The family is adjusting well to the new domestic dynamic.

Joshua

Ten staff from the School of Rural Health attended the first of the Federation of Rural Australia Medical Educators’ (FRAME) twice yearly meetings, held in Broome WA from 9-10 May, along with around 70 other Australian Rural Clinical School academic and professional staff colleagues.

It is always a great learning opportunity to be able to network with other Regional Clinical School colleagues and to share experiences in relation to rural medical education programs.

The focus of the meeting in Broome was around Indigenous cultural competence and provided delegates with the opportunity of hearing from some truly inspiring speakers from the local region.

Of course, no FRAME meeting in Broome would be complete without a sunset camel ride at the end of formal proceedings…

Camel ride in Broome

It may not have been the BIGGEST but it was a bountiful morning tea held on the last Friday of the Year 2 placement in East Gippsland.

Staff and students from Year 2, 3B, 4C and 5D came along to enjoy a sumptuous morning tea of scones, slices and cakes, to raise money for Cancer research.

A fantastic effort raised a total of $140.05 and it also proved to be a great opportunity for students from all years to get together in a relaxed atmosphere.

The Biggest Morning Tea looked immaculate at the set up phase …… and students and staff soon swarmed over it, like bees to a honey pot!

A ‘Thanks a Million’ afternoon tea party was held for volunteers at Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS) in mid-May during Volunteers’ Week.

According to Jane Taylor, the MUDRIH lecturer who supervises a student-centred clinic at LCHS, the volunteers are “our secret weapon in providing a powerful role in student learning.”

“The volunteers are first trained as simulated clients, and they are on call to be interviewed by Interprofessional pairs of students. We were delighted to honour two of our faithful volunteer simulated clients, who have attended regularly since the student clinic started in 2010, amongst the finalists in the ‘Volunteer of the Year’. Some of our volunteers who are our simulated clients attended for the party along with many other LCHS volunteers.”

The ‘Thanks a Million’ volunteer afternoon tea had a 1960’s Rock and Roll theme.

Kerry Bell, administrative officer at MUDRIH for the GRIPS project and who also works at LCHS, collaborated with the LCHS volunteer coordinator Joanne Creighton to create a sixties ambiance. Kerry provided some of the music and posters and also led a troupe of enthusiastic and nimble footed rock ‘n roll dancers.

“Our MoU with LCHS is often serious, but sharing in a celebratory event such as the afternoon tea is just as important as the more academic side of our collaborations within the community health service,” Jane added.

Kerry Bell enjoyed the ‘Thanks a Million’ volunteer afternoon tea, especially the opportunity to break out the dancing shoes with Greg Cake.

The East Gippsland Regional Clinical School’s Cultural Safety plan is now complete with an acrylic plaque having been mounted on the wall adjacent to the reception desk of the Sale campus.

Designed in consultation with the Koori Liaison Officer at the Central Gippsland Health Service, Sandra Neilson, the plaque acknowledges the five Koori groups of the Gippsland area and acknowledges that the East Gippsland Regional Clinical School is situated on the traditional land of the Gurnai Kurnai people.

It is hoped that an official unveiling will take place as part of local NAIDOC week celebrations in July.

The plaque, recognising Gippsland’s five Koori groups, at East Gippsland Regional Clinical School’s Sale Campus.

The Gippsland Medical School has now donated 44 laptops to various community agencies throughout Gippsland, including specialist schools Cooinda Hill, Headway, Baringa School and Moe Life Skills.

The laptops were on loan to the 2008 and 2009 cohort of Year A medical students who have since graduated as junior doctors. When the laptops were returned to the school, a decision was made to donate the restored laptops to interested community agencies.

These agencies form an integral part of the Community Based Practice Program where students spend time working with clients and learn about many of the social issues, policies and health interventions occurring in the rural area.

Students work interprofessionally with agency staff, who work hard to ensure that the placements are a beneficial learning experience for them. The school was therefore delighted to be able to assist them with these donations.

The laptops have been greatly appreciated by the agencies and by the clients themselves. Alyson Walsh from Cooinda Hill said: “We are really thrilled with the laptops, they just open up so many doors for the people we support to access information.  We also get a lot out of having the medical students here.”

A personal thank you note was also received from a client at Headway who received a laptop. These laptops have had an interesting journey!

Dr. Marg Simmons presents a laptop to Alyson Walsh of Cooinda Hill

Sixty-four teddy bears were successfully cured of their ailments at Mildura’s first ever Teddy Bear Hospital!

Wednesday morning, the concerned young-lings of Mildura West Primary School chaperoned their “sick” teddy bears to a makeshift Hospital set up in their classrooms. Teddy bear illnesses ranged from broken bones to asthma to school-itis.

The “Hospital Clinics” were set up and run by a group of gregarious medical students from Mildura Regional Clinical School.

Teddy Bear Hospital is about helping children engage with doctors and the hospital process. The aim is to take the fear out of seeing the doctor, and to replace it with positive associations.

This year, it was all about the “Patch-Adams” approach. Above all else, we wanted the kids to laugh, giggle and snort water out their noses. Therefore, the stations were funny, interactive, and slightly quirky – the goal was to subconsciously have the kids associate “Doctors” and “Hospital” with “… really fun and silly.”

The children had the chance to plaster their thumbs, bandage teddy, use real stethoscopes, drive cardboard ambulances, and perform “surgery” on “big Ted” whilst looking ultra-cute in their funny-faced mask, decorated gloves and over-sized gowns. The day involved a lot of glitter, model skeletons, x-ray machines and flashing over-sized noses. And a lot more!

The children had a blast and were sad to see the doctors leave the school. The opportunity to build the rapport and establish trust early in a child’s life is so important. This positive relationship is what we can rely on as future doctors to offer these children the best possible care.

As up-and-coming doctors the opportunity to engage with children in a structured, health care-type environment, similar to what they may experience at the hospital, is very valuable. The doctor-patient relationship is important, and children are not an exception to that. Although when it comes to building rapport and gaining trust, they add a dimension of complexity and Teddy Bear Hospital is all about learning to overcome that.

By Danielle Strong, Year 4 Mildura

Teddy specialist Fleur with her fellow 'doctors' at the Teddy Bear Hospital

The East Gippsland Education Trust has announced it will increase the amount and number of scholarships from next year.

Established in 2011 in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Sale, the Wellington and East Gippsland Shires and the community, the trust offers a bursary to local students who gain a place to study MBBS with Monash.

There have been four recipients so far, including Emily Mogridge this year, with the $1,000 used to assist with relocation, text books and the accommodation expenses experienced by rural students.

Now it has been decided to increase the amount of the Scholarship in 2014 from $1,000 to $5,000, with three scholarships available to qualifying students.

East Gippsland Regional Clinical School is justifiably proud of the work that has been done so far to assist local students in their endeavours to pursue a medical career.

As part of the commitment to the local community and secondary school students, the Year 3B group will attend Sale secondary college and speak with students from four secondary colleges about the UMAT and pathways to tertiary health education.

Emily Mogridge, the 2013 recipient of the East Gippsland Education Trust Scholarship, which will be increased next year.

Dr Dennis O’Connor was the only representative from a rural school at the recent ‘Skilful GP Conference’ at Prato, Italy.

Dennis was involved in a plenary session address and facilitation of three practical workshops.  His presentation covered the ‘role and importance of regional and rural medical undergraduate education and retention of graduates in these areas.’

Being the only rural school representative and with a rural background proved helpful in networking with medical and academic colleagues from regional, rural and metropolitan Australia, Malaysia and Europe.

Marita Chisholm attended the ‘Alzheimer’s Australia 15^th National Conference’ in Hobart, Tasmania.

The conference theme was ‘The tiles of life – colouring the future’ and included sub themes of liberation, rehabilitation, leisure, service, creativity, research and wellbeing.

The conference brought together researchers, service providers, carers and most importantly people with dementia to discuss ways of moving forward, and how to support people living with dementia and their carers.

Marita’s PhD explores ‘access to dementia care and support services for rural Victorians’ and she found the conference particularly valuable for her ongoing research.