My name is Gahena Ram, I will be a fourth-year medical student in 2024 at Bathurst Rural Clinical School, and I would love the opportunity to receive the Australian Rotary Health Rural Clinical Health Scholarship. I am from Maitland but have been living in Campbelltown for the past three years because of my studies. I chose to come to Bathurst as I do feel like I belong with rural/regional communities much more due to the way I grew up and am looking forward to joining a regional setting once more.

As a future doctor, I believe community involvement and extracurricular interests are a vital part of becoming a holistic and well-rounded medical professional, to be able to fully understand the community that one serves. I have enjoyed a variety of community involvement experience both in Maitland and in Campbelltown as outlined my CV, however recently it has increasingly difficult to keep up with previous commitments and have had to forego some things I enjoy including sport, hobbies, and roles in university interest groups. This has mostly been due to time constraints; with the beginning of my Clinical years and commencing full time placement as well as independent study and part time work, it has been very difficult to keep up with the things I enjoy both personally and in the community. I believe this sentiment would be relatable to all university students, especially those who undergo unpaid placements, as the time pressures on students to keep up with study commitments and financially support themselves is immense.

Therefore, this scholarship would be extremely beneficial to me in terms of allowing me to support myself without foregoing opportunities I would love to take part in. It would free up time I would otherwise use doing part time work, which, while has taught me many things about professionalism and responsibility, is not necessarily as helpful in my development as a medical professional. This will be especially useful as I understand that rural medical students are given many opportunities to get involved in the Bathurst community, which I would be very happy to seize, to immerse myself in the placement and community completely. I have also had a keen interest in taking up research opportunities, and the scholarship would free up time to be able to do so, which could contribute to improved health outcomes for the community. Furthermore, I understand that the scholarship comes with Rotary Club responsibilities, something I am excited about as I share the values of “providing service to others, promoting integrity, and advancing world understanding, goodwill, and peace” as outlined in the mission statement. The presentations and reports I would be expected to give would be a great way to keep myself accountable in my involvement, allowing me to reflect on my experiences in the rural placement and how they have contributed to my development as a professional and community member.

My name is Gahena Ram; I am one of the proud Australian Rotary Health Rural Medical Scholarship recipients for Western Sydney University in 2024. I moved to Bathurst after being in Campbelltown, Sydney for the first three years of my medical education for several reasons; mostly because I had heard great things about the program here but also because I had grown up regionally in Maitland NSW, and wanted to leave the city to a town I am more suited to. I have not been disappointed by the experience here in Bathurst, in terms of academic opportunity and the many extra-curricular experiences that we have taken part of but also with living in Bathurst as a town.

In terms of academics, I have enjoyed a much more intimate learning experience at the Bathurst Health Service. Coming from busy city hospitals that are continuously on the move and often too busy to teach, I have been surprised by the attention we receive as students here. On my first rotation being paediatrics, I got the opportunity to get to know the youth of Bathurst and enjoyed engaging with them and their families, as well as the central role that healthcare played in the fabric of the town. I learnt that Bathurst is much smaller than Sydney, with many patients being involved with the staff some way or another outside of the hospital, as well as the relationship that some of the more chronically ill patients got to enjoy with the staff who oversee them frequently as there is not as much staff turnover day to day. On my mental health rotation, I was able to experience the wonderful Panorama Clinic, which I can see is held dear in the hearts of staff and patients alike in the community, as it is a unique in the subacute service that it offers in NSW. Furthermore, we have had many more lectures and tutorials organised by the staff and supported by the students here, than back in metro, on a weekly basis, which has enhanced our learning.

On an extracurricular basis, we have gotten involved in many events in the community. We had a mayoral welcome to the town as well as a lovely pizza dinner with students and faculty at Church Bar to celebrate our orientation week. We also got to partake in the clinical skills sessions and simulations over BREX weekend, the highlight of which would be going to Dr Ross Wilson’s sheep farm, getting acquainted with farm life with a personalised tour as well as learning to shear sheep! Working at the Bathurst 500 at the Health Hub providing blood pressure and blood sugar checks for the race fans was a great way to get to know the community and enjoy one of the most salient events of the year. The Mudgee field days was another way to experience the lifestyle out west, where I learnt much more about how agriculture is threaded into the way of life in Western NSW and got to undertake health checks on visitors.

On a more personal level, I have loved getting to know Bathurst as a town and Western NSW in general; I have thoroughly enjoyed spending weekends travelling to Orange, Oberon and Mudgee. I have also enjoyed exploring the many great cafés and restaurants, walks, attractions and weekend markets around Bathurst, and it has been a pleasure to get to know the friendly locals around Bathurst. Because of the wonderful experiences I have had, I have even decided to stay an extra year in Bathurst and graduate here instead of going back to Sydney next year.