Bush Bursary students welcomed to Narrabri Shire

In a first for the Narrabri Shire community two nursing and midwifery university students will undertake Narrabri’s NSW Rural Doctor Network Bush Bursary program.

Previously the scholarship, which provides $1500, had only been open to medical students studying to become doctor but this year it was opened to undergraduates enrolled in nursing and midwifery courses.

The Bush Bursary program looks to introduce the recipients to life in remote and rural parts of NSW while working in the medical profession.

Tayla Fehon from Port Macquarie and Emily Clisdell from Sydney arrived in Narrabri on Sunday and were welcomed to the community by Mayor Cathy Redding yesterday.

It will be the third consecutive year the program has run in the community with Narrabri Shire Council and the Country Women’s Association sponsoring the scholarship.

Emily is in the third year of her nursing degree at the University of Notre Dame’s Darlinghurst campus and Tayla is currently completing the third year of her midwifery course at the Newcastle University’s Port Macquarie Campus.

The two students will travel between Narrabri, Wee Waa, Boggabri, Pilliga and Baan Baa over the next two weeks.

“I’m really excited,” said Tayla.

“I think it will be a really good experience.

“I’m excited to see how things work in a rural town.

“I’m from Port Macquarie and that is considered rural but obviously travelling here you realise that there is quite a difference.”

“It is interesting to see in a bigger centre what it is like and also knowing about smaller centres,” said Emily.

“It will be interesting to see how it all works with the doctors and not having many of them.

“And also how they do everything in terms of medical practice and things like that.”

Tayla and Emily were thankful for the experience and were curious about how it would run over the two weeks.

“Because it’s the first year they’ve had nursing and midwifery they’re probably used to accommodating medical students,” said Emily.

“Obviously [medical students] would be more interested in going to medical centres and surgeries because that is more what they’re doing.

“It’s still going to be interesting for us because it’s something that we aren’t used to doing.

“It is good to see the other avenues of medical practice, such as the practice or home visits.

“It is really good to see that from a nursing point of view.”

Tayla said it was fantastic to see how the Narrabri Shire adapted to having her and Emily instead of the usual Bush Bursary students who are invited to Narrabri.

“It’s also really nice to see that places in the community were willing to take us on,” Tayla said.

“Being the first year for nursing and midwifery, as Emily said, they just used to do doctors’ clinics or surgeries for the medical students.

“So being able to go to birthing classes and going to Healthwise one day, it’s nice that everyone has been so accommodating and wants to share the experience with us.”

Tayla said the trip to Narrabri was a real eye-opener.

“It was an interesting drive, I didn’t realise how windy the roads are,” Tayla laughed.

“You could tell how much more rural and remote we were getting the closer we got.”

Emily had experience in rural and remote places and compared Narrabri to a remote town.

“It’s a lot more green, there’s not as much red dirt compared to Broken Hill,” said Emily.

“It sounds like it is much more of a centre for mining, agriculture and now the gas plantation.

“So lots of people are travelling through where as Broken Hill it’s just mining and people don’t tend to live there.” Mayor Cathy Redding welcomed the students to Narrabri yesterday morning and said it was crucial to have students in programs like the Bush Bursary.

“It is really important to have participants such as this, particularly in the Bush Bursary program,” said Cr Redding.

“It gives the girls and anyone who comes a very broad understanding of what it is like to be in the medical
profession in a rural community.

“As opposed to metropolitan areas where you can have a specialised field, in a rural community you can go from treating a child’s cold one morning to delivering babies that afternoon. I think that’s what the students like.”

Emily and Tayla will be hosted by Anna Dugdale in Narrabri and Kate Logan in Wee Waa.

The program will wrap up on Friday, February 14 with both students leaving town on that day.