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Landscape of rural Queensland

GROW Rural Program

GROW Rural’s transition from a rural immersion model to a workforce solution program in North Queensland (NQ) and South West Queensland (SWQ) has seen Health Workforce Queensland (HWQ) navigate uncharted territory in terms of building relationships between primary healthcare settings, university placement coordinators, accommodation providers and community to support GROW Rural health students return to rural communities for university placements and eventual employment as early career graduates.

GROW Rural NQ

The GROW Rural NQ cohort of 28 multidisciplinary health students has collectively visited the communities of Atherton, Mareeba, Ravenshoe and Herberton on an annual basis for three years. Highlights from our April 2024 visit included:

  • Scenario-based skills sessions titled ‘When Larry, Yasi and Jasper came to Town’ designed for students to learn how community works together professionally and socially in times of adversity.

  • Having a former GROW Rural Central Queensland student, Laura Rutherford, now practicing as a physiotherapist in Cairns join us as a GROW Rural skill session facilitator.

  • Meeting the newly appointed NQ Health Workforce Connector, Ash Bolton, whose honest account of how not to prepare for a cyclone left a memorable impression.

  • Celebrating the multiple hats community wears with the Hats off to GROW Rural dinner.

  • Exploring the healing properties of equine therapy with psychologist Anneke Bayer.

  • To read the full recap of the weekend, read the The GROW Rural NQ Journey Doesn’t End Here! story here.

Paving the road to success is our Health Workforce Connector (HWC) Ash, who lives and works in the GROW Rural region. The local knowledge, connections and on the ground support she brings to the role that puts in place the guide ropes for healthcare settings to best prepare for the commencement and sustainability of GROW students as early career graduates.

HWQ’s Health Workforce Solutions (HWS) Team also shares the GROW Rural student journey by participating in the annual events and through online webinars highlighting the support early career graduates will be provided as they progress into employment. Watch our Health Workforce Solutions team deliver their GROWing with HWQ webinar to support GROW Rural students secure employment as early career graduates.

Commencing this year and continuing in 2025, GROW Rural NQ students will return individually or in pairs to complete their clinical placements. This is where the HWC role comes into its own by working directly with the students, their university placement coordinators, health care settings and accommodation providers to ensure each placement is tailored to match student and practice expectations.

When Occupational Therapy students Hannah Bunn and Deneal Williamson returned to Atherton to undertake their 10-week placement at The Whole Child they benefited from their well-established relationship with the practice, local support provided by the HWC and financial assistance with their travel and accommodation costs through the Growing Rural North Program.

For Hannah, GROW Rural "contributed to my journey towards becoming a health professional by giving me the opportunity to experience rural health care during the GROW Rural weekends I have been able to attend, attending the online seminars, and now helping to facilitate a rural placement. Without the bursary provided by Health Workforce Queensland’s Going Rural North Program, I would not have been able to afford to complete a rural placement. Without being accepted into the Grow Rural program I don’t think I would have been so motivated to attend a rural placement.”

Equally the placement was a positive experience for the practice founder and director Crystel Poggioli who observed It’s been very positive for us to have the students.  They have both been exceptional.  I’m really grateful they were part of the GROW Rural program as we already had a connection, and they already knew a little bit about the area.  I think it’s crucial to think long term about our workforce, and the opportunity to be here for a longer time helps them know what it would be like to live in the region. To understand the importance of returning to their How Rural community, read the full story here.

GROW Rural SWQ

GROW Rural SWQ experienced several firsts with the SWQ iteration of GROW Rural as a workforce solution program commencing in 2023. The new cohort of 22 multidisciplinary health students came together for their first annual event in October last year to visit the communities of Roma and St George. The weekend program was designed to introduce the students to local primary health care, ACCHSs and hospital settings, as well as the communities to participate in community events and experience being billeted by local families. Read about the fun, networking and experiences the students encountered in their first year’s event here.

The connections made between the students, local health professionals and communities laid the foundation for GROW Rural’s upcoming second year visit which will see the students return to Roma and St George in October where they will:

  • Shadow health professionals at Vital Health, Maranoa Medical Centre, Roma Family Dental, Queensland Ambulance Service, and Roma Hospital.

  • Spend time with Rural Interprofessional Clinical Educator, Rohan Ballon who will share his journey working with sheep dogs, drawing parallels between dog training and rural health to highlight the need for trust, communication, and teamwork. 

  • Participate, with local high school students, in an emergency skill session scenario facilitated by local health professionals from St George Medical Centre, Southern Queensland Rural Health, and St George Hospital.

  • Spend time with their St George billet families and attend a community dinner.

HWQ’s growing potential as a rural workforce agency has incentivised high level strategic planning to ensure GROW Rural’s success as a workforce solution program will benefit additional rural Queensland communities.