Rosie

THE LAND | Thursday, August 27, 2015 57● ● ● ●

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IT WAS a hot summer’s day near Louth,during the worst dust storm of the season,when Rosie Nielsen opened an email sayingshe’d been accepted to study medicine at theUniversity of New England in 2010.

Rosie, with her brother Wally, sister Adelaide,grew up on “Ballycastle”, the red dirt sheepproperty their parents, Richard and Deborahoperate, 115 kilometres west of Bourke.

Like most kids, the Nielsens spent theirweekdays at school, but what differed forthem was they talked to their teachers using atwo-way and their recess time was usuallyspent helping to move sheep.

Rosie and her siblings completed theirlessons through distance education until theage of 13, but this failed to hinder her love forlearning.

“Collecting our school work from the mailboxwas my favorite day of the week – I was alwaysobsessed with school work,” she said.

It wasn’t until year 8 that Rosie entered the“normal” school system and became a fulltime boarder at Frensham girls’ school atMittagong.

She left school with a Higher SchoolCertificate mark that could get her into mostcourses but the desire to go back to her

roots influenced her to sign up for a year ofjillarooing in the Northern Territory.

It was whilst living there she became awareof the issues rural communities faced like alack of health care workers, which urged herto make a difference with her own career.

After completing a full year of law at theUniversity of Technology Sydney, Rosierealised the legal system wasn’t for her anddecided to sit the Undergraduate Medicineand Health Sciences Admission Test just tosee what happened.

Fast forward six years and she’s beenoffered and accepted a job as a junior medicalofficer in Dubbo and is set to start her careerin rural health next year, hopefully one day asa general practitioner (GP).

For Rosie, the packed emergency rooms andlack of one-on-one training offered by the cityhospitals were never enticing, which was whyshe built her career foundations within the bush.

During her degree she had to carry outseveral stints of practical work, which shechose to do in the Northern Territory,Dubbo, Narrabri, Bourke and most recently,Tamworth.

Rosie said undertaking her training in thecountry exposed her to a unique experience,presenting more opportunities to get to knowher advisors on both a personal andprofessional level.

With few other aspiring doctors choosing todo their final placement in Tamworth, Rosiewas able develop more practical skills thanwhat she could imagine throughout the year.

She also felt as though the people sheworked with knew who she was and why shewanted to do medicine, unlike hermetropolitan counterparts who could get lostin the crowd of bigger hospitals.

“I’ve been inspired by so many people herewho are truly passionate about rural andremote medicine,” she said.

“The staff in Tamworth are genuinelyinterested in helping me better myself as adoctor and a person to ensure there’s afuture in rural medicine.”

The fact rural and remote communitieswere struggling to attract doctors concernedRosie, who said a shortage of health workersin these areas could result in an increase ofhealth problems.

“In my opinion, health care at its finest isabout continuity of care,” she said.

“A major thing rural towns lack is doctorscommitted to living in an area for a long timeand things can get missed if doctors don’tknow their patients well.”

The rapid turn over of doctors in ruraltowns was something Rosie said could also have an impact on rural indigenousresidents, as doctors weren’t around long

enough to build a rapport with them. “I think the way around this is to get more

people from the bush studying medicine asthey wouldn’t get a shock when moving tocountry towns thus, would be more likely tostay,” she said.

“The fact the federal government is cuttingscholarships that support this like the MedicalRural Bonded Scholarship (MRBS), which hashelped me immensely, is a little scary.”

Growing up surrounded by people whoworked hard, such as her mother, father andgrandparents, has shaped Rosie’s work ethic,as well as her admiration for the rural lifestyle.

Rosie said people studying medicineshouldn’t disregard rural areas whenconsidering placement, or even work, as thelifestyle was second to none.

“I think the future of rural and regionaltowns are underestimated,” she said.

“To future medical students, I would trulyrecommend taking any opportunity to studyin these regional centres.”

As for the future, Rosie said she had nointerest in just working in the country for awhile, then going to the city like a lot ofpeople in medicine do.

“There’s nothing wrong with doing that, butI’m truly excited to be another generation ofmy family to build a life and a career in ruralAustralia,” she said.

BY AMELIAWILLIAMS

Rural health advocateAmelia Williams

Rosie Nielsen, "Ballycastle", Bourke, who has beenworking in Tamworth and helping with health checksdurring Commonwealth Bank AgQuip last week, hasaccepted a job as a junior medical officer in Dubboand is set to start her career in rural health next year.