With an increasingly ageing population a career in health has never been more important in Australia, and Mount Isa’s prestigious Centre for Rural and Remote Health has long been a leader in the field of training health professionals.
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So it was no surprise that MICRRH should host a health careers expo on Wednesday, nor the fact it was well attended by students and members of the public.
Assoc Prof Catrina Felton-Busch, MICRRH’s Head of Education said the day was an opportunity to showcase the different health disciplines offered through James Cook University.
“We’re targetting high school students but also mature-aged students, people who might be thinking about a career change,” Assoc Prof Felton-Busch said.
“So with uncertainty in the mining industry you might have people wanting to have more stable employment.”
Assoc Prof Felton-Busch said MICRRH offered a degree course in nursing science at Mount Isa.
“People don’t have to leave home to studying nursing,” she said.
The careers expo offered a mix of serious information gathering and a lot of hands-on bit of fun besides.
“Our simulation team are doing advanced life support simulation,” Assoc Prof Felton-Busch said.
“We’ve got a mannekin that does everything, cardiac arrest, it can even vomit and groan.”
Assoc Prof Felton-Busch said because nursing was such a large part of what they did they a large range of mannekins on display where you look at parts of the body in greater detail.
Allied health was an important part of the expo too.
“We often have students from clinical placements here from different disciplines from different universities so in terms of allied health we have occupational therapy, speech pathology, exercise physiology and physio and some of these will be doing interactive activity.”
MICCRH director Prof Sabina Knight was delighted with the turnout at the expo.
“Pharmacy and exercise physiology piqued a lot of interest tonight,” Prof Knight later tweeted.
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
