PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President’s Report Associate Professor Carol McKinstry | OTA President
T
he theme of this issue ‘Regional, Rural and Remote’ has special relevance to me. I have spent most of my life in regional Victoria. I grew up on my family’s farm on the Campaspe River at Barnadown, attended the small local primary school at Goornong with three other pupils in my grade, and then attended secondary school and later worked in Bendigo after I graduated. As a clinician, I worked with people living in Bendigo and up to 150km away—helping establish regional rehabilitation services so people did not have to travel to Melbourne. Later, as an academic, I established an occupational therapy course in Bendigo to provide tertiary educational opportunities for regional and rural students and workers. I am passionate about improving the health inequities of those living in regional, rural and remote areas—having seen firsthand the impact that a lack of access to services can have. It is well-documented that there are higher incidences of chronic
disease, cardiovascular conditions, cancer, mental illness, and suicide in rural areas. While country living has many advantages, it also has health concerns. The number of health professionals, including occupational therapists, per 100,000 people is much less the further you move away from metropolitan cities. While the lack of medicos in the bush attracts a lot of attention, the need for allied health professionals can often be overshadowed. A Rural Health Commissioner report released earlier this year highlighted issues associated with a maldistribution of the Australian allied health workforce. University Departments of Rural Health (UDRHs)—initially established to attract more metropolitan medical students to rural placements and communities—much later included allied health and nursing students. However, many still focus on converting metropolitan students to rural practice, when all the research shows that students from a rural upbringing are a much better bet.
I am passionate about improving the health inequities of those living in regional, rural and remote areas— having seen firsthand the impact that a lack of access to services can have.
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One challenge in building a rural occupational therapy workforce is attracting enough students with the academic requirements to undertake our courses. Aspiration is a huge issue in rural schools. I frequently tell the story of a debutante ball in a rural community in which I am on the local health service board. As board chair, I was invited to be in the official party to which each of the nineteen pairs of debutantes were presented—along with a small description of their interests and life goals. No boys, and only a handful of girls, had any aspirations to attend university. This community is only 60km from Bendigo and 200km from Melbourne. Lifting aspiration for country students was also highlighted in the Napthine Report’s National Regional, Rural and Remote Education Strategy (2019). Tertiary participation rates of regional, rural and remote students are way too low for a country like Australia. While doing my occupational therapy course in Melbourne, people were amazed that I had been admitted—firstly because I was from the country, and secondly because I had attended a public high school. Admittedly, that was some time ago. Now as an educator, I love teaching rural students, and they make great occupational therapists. They are very resilient and take things in their stride. Undertaking placements in regional and rural areas gives them a solid base for future practice,
