Rural Week

Just returned from my rural week in rural Tasmania Swansea. It was a great week away from Hobart, giving me a break from the normal schooling schedules of lectures, tutorials and laboratory practical. I learnt so much more through immersing myself with the community, having quality conversations with the community members, and understanding the way the community work and the difficulties and issues that the community face then all the community health lectures put together.

My days was spent with my CBL (case based learning group) and we met many local people, including health care professionals, allied health workers, and various local leaders and community members, in Swansea. They shared their stories and experience with us, gave us a tour of their town, and more importantly, made the group feel part of the community. People in Swansea are really friendly, they greet you when you walk by them in the streets. They are really appreciative of the services available to them and our interest in the community.

We were invited to join local community programs that is organised in conjunction of health promotions. In this program, people talked about everything to each other and gave advice when an issue is raised. This opportunity really showed us the community spirit of a small (population: 600-700) rural community such as Swansea, the community spirit that dosen't exsit in a large urban city.

The local GPs, there is only 2 of them to serve the whole community, was a great inspiration to me. They were able to be the community's doctor, community's friends, a teacher of the local community school and parents at the same time. They were able to do all of this and yet maintain a healthy professional distance from patients who are members of the community. The effort that they put in to become part of the community and change the community for the better is amazing.

The week away from the rest of the cohort gave the 9 of us many opportunities to know each other better. We did things together as a team. This allowed us to know each other's strengths, knowledge and experiences which assisted in getting more out of the week as a group. Most of our gatherings ended in conversations regarding medical things such as ethics, communication, or just clinical science topics. Otherwise, it was about Swansea and how we felt about particular events of the trip. This is what happens when a group of medical students get together. When we love what we learn, we don't stop talking about it because it is part of who we are and what we are going to be.

Of course there was a bit of school gossip and sharing of issues that we experienced with others in the cohort. It is good that these issues are brought up as we helped each other to understand what the other party could be experiencing or intending that resulted in the conflicts. A beach bon fire with marshmallows and chocolate ripple biscuits, along with a game of "I've never ever..." brought up a lot of information and experiences about the team members. Information that would not have been shared if this week didn't happened. Overall, we all had a great time and bonded with each other, changing our perception of some individuals.

The great week away had went well and ended. This leaves me with my rural week journal, rural week reflective essay, and my rural week group report and evaluation to be completed. Whatever happens in Swansea stays in Swansea.

The refreshing week in Swansea with the team refreshed me. The refreshed me is now ready to get back into school and learn more things to help me be a better doctor and a better person.

love,
kathleen