FOR a long time, Gunnedah has struggled to attract and retain GPs, and now a former local is hoping to come to the rescue and shine some more light on the issue.
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Sarah Clark, who attended Gunnedah High School and St Mary's College, has been named the Rural Doctors Association of Australia's (RDAA) Medical Student of the Year for 2020.
Her commitment to helping solve issues in rural communities was a major factor in her receiving the award, and the fact she intends to return to the region upon completion of her degree is a major win for locals who are fed up with the lack of support in town.
The Gunnedah Community Roundtable is in fact preparing a submission to the NSW Parliament's inquiry into 'health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote New South Wales', citing concerns about how clients of local community services often have no access to local GPs.
The University of NSW's Wagga Wagga Rural Clinical School student's passion for rural health saw her fulfil half of her elective placement at the end of last year at Alice Springs Hospital. Prior to that she had also raised funds for the Alice Springs Hospital Special Care Nursery to buy much-needed paediatric stethoscopes.
In the Northern Territory, she gained experience in "Indigenous medicine and the specific challenges of isolated, cross-cultural practice" according to RDAA president, Dr John Hall.
She continued along that path upon her return to Wagga Wagga, where she spent much of her general practice rotation at their Aboriginal Medical Service.
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She was a leader within the university sector too, not only being part of the Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA), but acting as Chair in 2020.
The list of her achievements and activities goes on, with the student meeting a raft of officials including federal politicians, and helping coordinate the #GoRural2021 online campaign which is designed to drive more competitiveness and popularity for internships in regional areas.
"My involvement in AMSA Rural Health was instrumental in highlighting just how much of a national issue this is and how severely this is impacting rural communities all across the country," she said.
"And then it was my clinical experiences in the later half of my degree that opened my eyes to how I can meaningfully contribute to solving this problem. I love rural medicine because it is so wide and varied, and no day is ever the same.
"At this stage I am quite interested in rural generalism as my future career pathway because I enjoy the breadth and variety that rural generalism offers me as a career, while also being of maximum benefit to a community that needs you. And rural patients and their communities are just the best."
As for next year, Ms Clark has secured an internship at Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital, which is in the Hunter-New England Health District that includes Gunnedah and Tamworth.
