MLHD’s Enhancing People and Culture Award winner Kyle Bruest with Jodie Ridley, who was named Allied Health Staff Member of the Year. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
It has been well documented that attracting healthcare professionals to regional areas is extremely difficult.
That’s what Kyle Bruest and his team conducting the Be a Health Hero initiative are trying to change – by introducing Murrumbidgee high school students to the sector.
The Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) has recognised the program’s success with its Enhancing People and Culture Award.
“The program is a collaboration between MLHD and the Department of Education, in particular the Regional Industry Education Partnership (RIEP) program,” Mr Bruest said.
“Stacey Suidgeest from RIEP was the brains behind it all. She had the concept of wanting to give Year 10 students a taste of health care.
“In collaboration with us, MLHD, we’ve then put together a two-day immersive hands-on healthcare workshop so the kids get to do things like basic life support, and some suturing.
“They get to do a little bit of allied health stuff as well, including putting back slabs and casts and things on some wound care. They get to learn how to dress wounds properly and how all that sort of stuff looks, as well as other quality information.”
Mr Bruest believes that high school students can often be pulled away by the unknown when choosing to take on careers and degrees, and that the workshops help educate them before making their decisions.
“Kids nowadays have an overabundance of choice,” he said.
“They can choose more things now than ever before, so that makes them a little bit more confused at times as well.
“We’re now providing the opportunity to be hands-on and actually get a bit of a gauge on things from that Year 10 level, so then they can make appropriate subject selections for Year 11 and 12.
“If they want to come and do the school-based traineeship, that’s another way where they can be working in an immersive hospital space as an assistant nurse, to then make those sorts of informed, long-term career decisions.”
Mr Bruest said the award was the result of a team effort.
“Stacey [Suidgeest] from the RIEP program, Department of Education, she’s definitely the brains of it. And then a big group of us here that put it all together, that pull staff from different areas so that they can provide different experiences for the students,” he said.
“That’s what it was all about. We want the kids to have fun while they’re here and enjoy their time while they’re here. Otherwise, it’s a bit of a long slog for them. If it’s all just talks and lectures, we try and get them as hands-on as possible.”
