Newsletter October 2013 XXXX Campus
Medicine
Year VI Exams 2013 Year VI students have temporarily dispersed to all parts of the world before returning to the RCS to complete the 4 week UNSW PRINT program (Pre Internship) starting Monday 28 October and finally completing the last of their UNSW Medicine course requirements on Friday 22 November. We wish all students the best of luck for their exam results. The examinations went very well and the RCS is grateful to the examiners who gave so much of their time and expertise. We would like to sincerely thank: Drs’ Michael Payne, Louis Baggio, Mike McCready, Steve Jancewicz, Shane Curran, Nicole Ring, Mohamed Foda, Joe Suttie, Rakesh Seth, Adriaan Venter, Martin Jude, Kate Gupta, Ed Darby, Chris Johnson, Steve Wood, Len Bruce, James Masson, Prof Tony O’Sullivan and Cindy Patterson from WWBH Pharmacy.
UNSW RCS WW October 2013
It seems hard to believe the 2013 academic year is drawing to a close. Our Sixth year students have completed their final examinations. Everything seemed to go well, fingers crossed for when the results are announced in a few weeks time. I’m sure everyone is busy as it’s the end of the year and we certainly have a number of events coming up. Everyone associated with the Wagga Wagga campus will be invited to our End of Year Celebration and Awards Evening on Thursday 14th November. On 8th November, our Sixth years will host a Graduation Dinner at the Magpies Nest restaurant. This is particularly important since most of graduates will not be able to attend the Graduation Ball in Sydney. Congratulations to Dr Alex Lim and his wife, Feng, on the arrival of their new son Gabriel on the 26th September. Fingers crossed that the stars align and Alex and his family move to Wagga Wagga next year as a fulltime Adolescent Psychiatrist and Academic Tutor at the Wagga Wagga campus. Many of you will be following the debate here with respect to the Regional Medical School, I refer you to an excellent article written by Benjamin Veness, president of the Medical Students’ Association, who outlines the arguments against increasing Undergraduate medical places extremely well and writes very convincingly that the way forward is to support the current Rural Clinical School model and expand Postgraduate training places in rural and regional Australia. To read this article please right click on the link: New medical schools don’t stack up for rural Australia. Hopefully a common sense solution will be negotiated. Again, my thanks to everyone involved in the great success of UNSW Medicine in Wagga Wagga and I hope to see you at our End of Year Celebration on the 14th November. John Preddy STOP PRESS: There will be a change of venue for the End of Year Celebration and Awards Evening due to the ongoing WWBH building works in the grounds of Harvey House. It will now be held at the International Hotel on the corner of the Sturt Highway and Lake Albert Road.
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Dr Chris Mumme, Registrar, WWBH In 2006, Chris arrived as a keen young Year IV student from Sydney campus. Sydney was his home town. He stayed on at RCS Wagga Wagga completing his studies here in 2008 and had settled in so easily that he completed his Internship and Residency at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital. Following that, Chris took 12 months away from Wagga to work in Albury Wodonga doing a mixed year of part time emergency work and… spending some quality time with a special girl based at the Albury RCS campus. 2012 was a significant year, Chris was back at WWBH as an Anaesthetic Registrar, Trudi and Chris an area in which he is pursuing a career. He completed his primary exam that year, married that special girl, Trudi Beck (then an intern at WWBH) and competed in the Hawaiian Iron- with baby Eloise man event following a heavy training program. The event involved a 3.8km swim (no big deal as Chris was a national champion swimmer in his teens) a 180km bike ride (he is also a very accomplished cyclist) concluding with a 42.2 km run—an Olympic marathon. Chris finished with a time of 10 hours 22 minutes. To build towards this peak, Chris had trained and competed in events at Port Macquarie in 2009, 2010 and 2011 as well as Lake Taupo, New Zealand in 2010 and 2011 As a student, Chris coached and played water polo with a local Wagga team while also competing now and then in road cycling. In April 2013, Chris and Trudi welcomed baby Eloise to their world, perhaps their greatest achievement. They’ve all settled very well into family life, Eloise is a gentle, inquisitive baby who delights everyone she meets. For both Trudi and Chris, the future is busy; they will soon move on to Canberra. Chris will undertake Anaesthetic training at Canberra’s Calvary Hospital and the Canberra Hospital while Trudi will be busy with completing an O&G diploma for 12 months then GP training in Canberra. It’s always nice to have a happy ending, so here it is—Chris and Trudi hope to return to Wagga to settle permanently in just over 3 years time. Everyone at the Rural Clinical School campuses of Sydney, Wagga and Albury and all those who have subsequently worked alongside them are thrilled by their successes so far and will be very happy to see them return to Wagga in the future.
RAW 2013 wagga wagga Over the recent long weekend, around 100 medicine, nursing and allied health students from around the state including Queensland, attended the 7th annual Rural Appreciation Weekend (RAW). This is a premier event on the Rural Allied Health and Medicine Society (RAHMS) calendar. RAHMS is an organisation for students studying health related courses at various universities. RAW aims to expose students from all health-related backgrounds to a rural lifestyle through a weekend away in regional NSW and is packed with speakers, workshops and networking activities. Students gain an insight into health practise and workforce issues in rural areas. Included in the program were camping at Wagga Wagga Beach camp site; a visit to the farm of the very hospitable Dr Tom Heaney with a bonfire and dinner, workshops; a good ol’ fashion bush dance, disaster scenarios, and trivia at the pub. Wagga campus students, Julia Fattore, Francesca Garnett, Sofia Mason, Annalise Bagust and Sally Newton were all RAW Crew members who had an enormous job putting the program in place. Thanks must go to the many organisations such as Coast City Country GP Training, HealthWorkforce Australia, National Rural Health Students Network, RAHMS. University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and the Rural Clinical School for their support.
# 2 UNSW RCS PMQ October 2013
Dr Carl Henman is once again taking on the mountains with his bike to help raise funds for HeartKids NSW and Childhood Heart Disease. From the 20th to the 24th November, 20 Riders will take up the challenge and ride the NSW Snowy Mountains to help raise awareness of CHD. The goal is to raise awareness as well as much needed funds to help Heartkids NSW. This non government funded organisation works to provide family support, create awareness, lobby the government and also fund research into the causes of CHD. The riders will cover 680km with 9,000 metres of climbing. Heartkids is a registered charity so if anyone would like to help support this enthusiastic doctor on his adventure, your donation would be greatly appreciated—just check the website.
Year VI RCS Grad Dinner:
Friday, 8 November 2013 6.30pm Magpies Nest, Old Narrandera Road WAGGA WAGGA
Year VI RCS Awards Evening:
Thursday, 14 November 2013 6.00pm The International Hotel Cnr Sturt Hwy and Lake Albert Road WAGGA WAGGA PLEASE NOTE: The International Hotel is offering a discounted priceof $119 for a King Premium room. For anyone attending the Awards Evening and wanting to stay overnight, this is a great deal (room only). Please mention UNSW when booking to receive this rate. Update:
Student Exams 2013: Year V Year IV
Wednesday, 20 November 2013, RCS Harvey House, Docker Street, Wagga Wagga This Update will feature a medico-legal presentation delivered by: Julie Brooke-Cowden Claims & Advisory Services (East) MDA National Insurance Pty Ltd Biomed MCQ ICE
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