The Long Way to Medicine

Eleanor Gregory James Cook University External Communications Coordinator

Growing up on farms in rural Victoria, Dr Megan Bates had no idea what she was going to do when she left school. She’s the first to admit her path into medicine was anything but straightforward. But as she starts her intern year at Mount Isa hospital, she’s also the first to admit the journey has been well worth it. This is her story.

I grew up in the high country before moving down to the Victoria-New South Wales border, along the Murray River. I came from an area where most of the kids were farm kids, and while some of them went on to university after school, a lot didn’t. There was a lot of pressure to go get a qualification, but I didn’t really have any idea at that stage of what I wanted to do. I got into nursing, but failed dismally. Then I just ran away. I decided I was going to spend my time driving around the country doing anything and everything. I went to work in the shearing sheds and worked as a rouseabout. I worked in abattoirs, poured beers in pubs and worked as a cleaner. Then I took off to the Northern Territory and lived in a remote community, running the general store for a few years.

It was only when I became pregnant with my son that I realised I had to pull my socks up and do something — noone was going to do it for me. In this way, there’s nothing like pregnancy to snap you into focus. By this time, I’d moved back south, so I saved up and enrolled in a Health Sciences degree.

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That was where I discovered a love for anatomy and physiology, and I ended up majoring in genetics. Then I found out I could apply for medicine. It had never, ever been on my radar because it was something I never thought I could do. To me, medicine was something kids did straight out of high school. Mine had been a very long journey, so it took a lot of self-belief to apply. But I made sure I got the grades I needed, because as a mature age student with a young child, I was desperate to secure our future.

Dr Megan Bates on rural placement during university.

A Rural Calling

I’d lived in Townsville during my travelling years and had really liked it. Then I found out JCU had a medical school up there with a focus on rural, remote and Indigenous health. For me, that really did it.

During my time in the Territory I lived in towns with Indigenous communities and it was the biggest culture shock. I didn’t know people lived like that. It was truly an awakening.

I love the toughness that comes with being in remote places. They’re not easy to live in, and the people out there are the best in the world. There’s a real resilience to them.

I love the area of remote and Indigenous health because what I saw in the Territory had shocked me to the core. We were still in Australia, but there was such a difference in healthcare compared to the city. If you have accidents out there, you are buggered. There’s not an ambulance coming, it’s just the back of a truck that might get there within the next few hours.

Studying medicine at a university which focused on rural and remote health really appealed to me.

Originally, on applying, I was accepted into the Medical Laboratory Science course. For me, I was at the point where it felt like I’d wasted my last shot — and I decided if I didn’t get into medicine, I was going to give up on that dream. But, I got in.

Dr Megan Bates’ son Julian joined her while completing her rural clinical placement in Cloncurry in her final year of university. The Ultimate Juggle

Juggling a four-year-old and medicine was always going to be a struggle. I’d already found it hard managing back in Victoria with day care, study and the commute. But my mum was originally from Cairns and was happy to head back north to help out if I got in. I would never have been able to get through this degree without her sacrificing her life down south. She’s definitely been our rock.

It can be really tricky as a mature age student juggling rural placements, but I’d have to say they’ve been the highlight of my degree. I had two wonderful placements in Cloncurry which changed my life. In Cloncurry, everything was right: the right people, the right team, the right place and the right time. I really felt I’d found my people out there. It was truly life changing. My fourth-year

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placement in Cloncurry was so spectacular that I organised with the local superintendent to come back and do my entire sixth year there. I had the most incredible clinical exposure and was given such fantastic teaching. I couldn’t have planned it better, and am so ready for my internship.

Graduating at the end of 2020, I felt like I’d come to the end of a long tunnel. Perseverance is one of the traits I have in abundance, and so no matter how hard it got, I never deferred.

Dr Megan Bates (right) celebrating completing six years of Medicine with friends at the JCU Medicine Class of 2020 Graduation Ceremony.

A Future With Passion

I’m off to Mount Isa for my internship in 2021, on the Rural Generalist Pathway. I am so excited as it was my first option. Luckily, I got it.

My future lies in rural general practice. I love both the concept of cradle to grave medicine, and if it wasn’t already obvious, the rural lifestyle. My plan is to combine this with advanced skills training in fields like anaesthetics, emergency, Indigenous health and rural and remote medicine in Mount Isa. One day though, I’ll head back to Cloncurry and carve out my own little slice of paradise.

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