Chrystal Endean
Indigenous Health Scholarship
Australian Catholic University, QLD
Bachelor of Nursing
Scholarship Awarded 2018
Sponsored by:
Rotary Club of Cleveland
How will I contribute to improving Indigenous health as a qualified medical practitioner or health worker?
For a very young age I developed a passion to help people, this has continued throughout my life influencing my career. My strongest desire to become a nurse with a keen interest of working with infants and children, was cemented when I became a mother. I finally had the courage to put the steps in motion to achieve my dream of making a real difference to people lives, through health.
Although born and raised away from my traditional country, I have been acknowledged and accepted within my local community of Winnam, having close ties to the Quandamooka people of Moreton Bay. This has afforded me a wonderful opportunity to not only have strong connections with my community but also contribute to the overall well-being of its people. In addition, this has allowed me greater insight into the needs of Indigenous people, both physically, socially and culturally. I have a firm belief that holistic care is required to ensure the best outcomes are achieved.
I have a great awareness of the current disparity that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. As a qualified medical practitioner, I will be able to contribute to Indigenous health, serving to not only improve on overall health outcomes but to contribute to Closing the Gap that exists within our communities. By delivering culturally sensitive care, my hope is to encourage our people to stay healthy, seek support when needed and provide the required advocacy to enable this to occur. I feel it is integral to our health system to have more Indigenous health workers to support our people, thus, contributing to the overall well being of our society.
Current Progressive Report
Semester one, 2020 was certainly a challenging semester all round. My enrolment this semester consisted of three units; Transition to Professional Nursing, Principles of Nursing Chronic Illness and Disability and a further practical unit.
The nursing unit completed this semester explored holistic care of chronically ill and disabled patients. This unit delved into the lives of patients living within our community and the nursing support and care required to improve and maintain their quality of life. The transition unit allowed insight into the expectations and regulations of professional nurses.
I was fortunate with my studies this semester to have the majority of my on-campus classes completed prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. This was particularly important for the practical component of this course. The shutdown saw the usual on-campus university jump into on-line learning and all the technical difficulties that came with such a transition. I found the latter part of the semester quite challenging, with limited support and lack of assistance from already pressed teaching staff. This was understandable, as we have all heard on numerous occasions, we are living in unprecedented times. It certainly made for some challenging moments throughout this semester; working from home, navigating on-line study and also home-schooling my daughter. However, social isolation did bring some positives; family time, exploring our local area by foot and my girl learning to ride without training wheels!
Fortunately, my clinical placement went ahead and I completed a month in a paediatric ward. As this is my preference once I am course complete, I was a little apprehensive about this placement. A little doubt did cross my mind- what if I disliked this area of nursing? After my first day on ward I knew that this is exactly where I am supposed to be. It was very rewarding to deliver care to paediatric patients and their families and I couldn’t imagine working in another area.
On a personal note, COVID-19 has certainly changed the way we live. In Queensland we have been very fortunate and my peers residing in other states remain in my thoughts as we embark on our final semester of our degree.