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Landscape of rural Queensland

GROW Rural Program

GROW Rural’s transition from a rural immersion model to a workforce solution program in North Queensland (NQ) and South West Queensland (SWQ) has seen Health Workforce Queensland (HWQ) navigate uncharted territory in terms of building relationships between primary healthcare settings, university placement coordinators, accommodation providers and community to support GROW Rural health students return to rural communities for university placements and eventual employment as early career graduates.

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GROW Rural NQ

The GROW Rural NQ cohort of 28 multidisciplinary health students has collectively visited the communities of Atherton, Mareeba, Ravenshoe and Herberton on an annual basis for three years. Highlights from our April 2024 visit included:

  • Scenario-based skills sessions titled ‘When Larry, Yasi and Jasper came to Town’ designed for students to learn how community works together professionally and socially in times of adversity.

  • Having a former GROW Rural Central Queensland student, Laura Rutherford, now practicing as a physiotherapist in Cairns join us as a GROW Rural skill session facilitator.

  • Meeting the newly appointed NQ Health Workforce Connector, Ash Bolton, whose honest account of how not to prepare for a cyclone left a memorable impression.

  • Celebrating the multiple hats community wears with the Hats off to GROW Rural dinner.

  • Exploring the healing properties of equine therapy with psychologist Anneke Bayer.

  • To read the full recap of the weekend, read the The GROW Rural NQ Journey Doesn’t End Here! story here.

Paving the road to success is our Health Workforce Connector (HWC) Ash, a role funded by North Queensland PHN, who lives and works in the GROW Rural region. The local knowledge, connections and on the ground support she brings to the role that puts in place the guide ropes for healthcare settings to best prepare for the commencement and sustainability of GROW students as early career graduates.

HWQ’s Health Workforce Solutions (HWS) Team also shares the GROW Rural student journey by participating in the annual events and through online webinars highlighting the support early career graduates will be provided as they progress into employment. Watch our Health Workforce Solutions team deliver their GROWing with HWQ webinar to support GROW Rural students to secure employment as early career graduates.

Commencing this year and continuing in 2025, GROW Rural NQ students will return individually or in pairs to complete their clinical placements. This is where the HWC role comes into its own by working directly with the students, their university placement coordinators, health care settings and accommodation providers to ensure each placement is tailored to match student and practice expectations.

When medical student Lucinda Connolly returned to the Tablelands in January to undertake her clinical placement at The Doctor House, she also had the privilege of being supervised by her GROW Rural NQ mentor, Dr Diana House (referenced in our media release, released April 2024 before GRNQ’s final event) . The opportunity to reconnect with Tablelands health professionals and communities will continue as more GROW Rural NQ students return to commence their placements throughout 2024 and 2025. Two other GROW Rural NQ students were inspired to revisit Atherton for their 10-week occupational therapy placement after shadowing Crystel Poggioli at The Whole Child last year. To realise GROW Rural’s vision as a health workforce solution, our HWC will continue to provide on the ground support to the healthcare settings to progress placements and ultimately take students on as early career graduates.

The Grow Rural NQ Program was made possible with our Event Partner:

GROW Rural SWQ

GROW Rural SWQ experienced several firsts with the SWQ iteration of GROW Rural as a workforce solution program commencing in 2023. The new cohort of 22 multidisciplinary health students came together for their first annual event in October last year to visit the communities of Roma and St George. The weekend program was designed to introduce the students to local primary health care, ACCHSs and hospital settings, as well as the communities to participate in community events and experience being billeted by local families. Read about the fun, networking and experiences the students encountered in their first year’s event here.

The connections made between the students, local health professionals and communities laid the foundation for GROW Rural’s upcoming second year visit which will see the students return to Roma and St George in October where they will:

  • Shadow health professionals at Vital Health, Maranoa Medical Centre, Roma Family Dental, Queensland Ambulance Service, and Roma Hospital.

  • Spend time with Rural Interprofessional Clinical Educator, Rohan Ballon who will share his journey working with sheep dogs, drawing parallels between dog training and rural health to highlight the need for trust, communication, and teamwork. 

  • Participate, with local high school students, in an emergency skill session scenario facilitated by local health professionals from St George Medical Centre, Southern Queensland Rural Health, and St George Hospital.

  • Spend time with their St George billet families and attend a community dinner.

HWQ’s growing potential as a rural workforce agency has incentivised high level strategic planning to ensure GROW Rural’s success as a workforce solution program will benefit additional rural Queensland communities.