Past Indigenous Health Scholarships Program

I have worked as an Aboriginal Health practitioner for almost 3 years and developed a deep passion for supporting my community. I have enrolled into a Bachelor of Health Sciences majoring in Health promotion as I would like to further my education enabling me to apply for positions of leadership or management.

I aspire to complete the Bachelor of Medicine Surgery and specialise to become a qualified General Practitioner. I hope to move to rural and remote communities to offer health care services where they are lacking help for rural Indigenous and non Indigenous community. Coming from a rural area myself I have a deep understanding of the difficulties faced by the lack of health care in these areas and hope to assist with this issue.

When I first began my nursing studies at Deakin University, I was determined to work full time, study full time and continue my role as a wife and mum thinking I was capable of doing everything, however, this impacted on my last trimester which I failed. This impacted my self esteem and my ability to be able to get back on track. After receiving help from Deakins course counsellors I have been able to re-focus on my situation and get back on track. In order to do this, I have sacrificed my financial comfort and given up work to take on full time study to ensure I am able to fully focus on my career goals. My education is a priority and one I have taken seriously which will also now impact on my limited finances. I believe in all my heart nursing is my purpose and any sacrifice I need to make will be worth it.

As someone who has worked in aged care for almost 6 years, I have a passion to help people be the best version of themselves and to just assist even in the smallest way to make a difference. Although I love my job, I have always felt that I could do more. I have decided to pursue a career where I can assist people further.

My name is Haley Pickering and I have just completed my first year as a nursing student at the University of SA. I am a strong Bardi woman and my family comes from Western Australia. Nursing is a rewarding, exciting, challenging and diverse profession that could take me anywhere. I believe that I am a caring person by nature and from a very young age have always loved helping people. I feel as if nursing is my ideal career that will be perfectly suited to me. This degree supports my future aspirations as I aspire to take my knowledge and work in Aboriginal communities. I would love to be able to provide better health services to Aboriginal people through the delivery of culturally safe and competent nursing and even midwifery services.

My name is Selena (Nina) Hartman and I am a proud Ngarrindjeri woman from the Coorong and Lakes. I currenty work as an Enrolled Nurse and as a AMIC Practitioner through the Murray Bridge Hospital (part time). While doing these roles I have realised my passion is with midwifery. I enjoy antenatal, postnatal care and supporting in deliveries. Being there for our clients and seeing the strength a woman has at a time like birth is amazing. It is a beautiful experience and I also know there can be heartache as well while doing this job. As a current health worker I am aware of all the issues facing the health sector and I hope that I can help face those issues with the support of my workmates.

I have always been passionate about Indigenous Health and had aspirations of pursuing a career as a doctor with a focus on Indigenous health and community outreach. Although this is not my current degree, I still have dreams of using laboratory medicine as a pathway perhaps into post graduated medicine. Laboratory Medicine, so far, has shown to be very rewarding and an interesting degree that holds many career opportunities and I am excited to explore both the pathology and public health sides of the degree.

I have chosen to study dentistry as I have a great interest n oral health care. I have always really enjoyed going to the dentist since I was young, and have been fortunate enough to benefit from visiting the dentist regularly. I have also chosen to study dentistry as one day I would really like to be able to give people the gift of smiling. Many people struggle with their self-esteem from the appearance of their teeth; therefore, I would like to boost peoples self-esteem to enjoy smiling by becoming an orthodontist after completing my current degree in dentistry. I also hope to be able to encourage will people to visiting the dentist nby increasing oral health knowledge and raining awareness of available pathways to dental care for Aboriginal people.