My name is Tahlia, and I am a proud Gumbayngirr woman of Ngerrie land (South Grafton, NSW). I am currently studying Pharmacy, where I am excited about providing impactful healthcare on the front line to my community. After studies, I plan on relocating back to my homelands to assist the rural and regional healthcare professional shortages, and to lead my community to a positive, inclusive future.

Beyond my studies, I am a representative netball player of Grafton Netball Association and SCALA Netball, as well as a C badged umpire. I love to visit my family and friends back at home when I can, and I enjoy playing the guitar and piano.

I am extremely grateful to be deemed a recipient of this scholarship, and would like to address my appreciation to the Australian Rotary Health group.

I have been witness to various multi-layered issues surrounding Indigenous healthcare, including the lack of acknowledgement of Indigenous values, disparities between the perceptions of Indigenous culture within White culture, and further, the statistically poor schooling attendance rates of Indigenous students.

With several multifaceted and transforming issues in this space, I have already begun acting on my intention of contribution. By earning employment at Logan Hospital’s Pharmacy as an Indigenous Cadet, I have gained invaluable experience in broad clinical and procedural aspects of medicines within a large patient and staff population of Indigenous and multicultural peoples. I have additionally been expanding my knowledge and understanding of indigenous cultures and practices via Griffith University’s GUMURRI Unit and fellow Indigenous organisations holding extracurricular workshops. During my final year of secondary schooling, I also initiated a project in aim of introducing a program to South Grafton High School to improve the attendance and participation of Indigenous female students, with funding granted and a now functioning Foundation in operation to ultimately better social outcomes for these students.

As a future pharmacist, I believe that I will have more opportunities to connect with the Indigenous community regarding healthcare. I will hold primary responsibility for being on the front and last lines of optimising patients’ healthcare needs in a culturally safe and appropriate approach, whilst demonstrating medically safe and efficacious practice. I believe that I will be able to achieve this by creating culturally aware relationships within my community, influencing meaningful rapport building within my working team, continuing personal community involvement and education, diving into opportunities to improve indigenous healthcare, and acknowledging my representation of the wider healthcare system. With developing a pharmacist’s ability to problem-solve and critically think as well as containing bright beliefs and emotions swelling around my Indigenous culture, I strongly trust that the combination will deeply aid indigenous healthcare.

My third year has seemed to come around very quickly in retrospect. One minute I was a new Gold Coast resident and rawly independent from having moved from my family home, and the next I am more than half way through my degree with an overwhelming amount of life experience since. The year started out very busy for me, with scheduling in as much work at Logan Hospital and as many trips back home to visit family and friends as I could before my classes started back for Trimester 1. Unfortunately, I let my work and travel invade Orientation Week and my consequent preparation for class content and additional readings
struggled.

To my appreciation, however, my classes all proved to be very interesting. I was enrolled in three classes, including Integrated Pharmacotherapeutics 2 (IP2), Pharmacy Practice 3 (PP3), and First Nations Health and Practice (with IP2 being 20 CDP, totaling 40 CDP). My favourite was definitely IP2, which focused on the therapeutics, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and drug profiles of gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases. From my own experiences, I was able to relate my learnings to my own family and prior pharmacy patients to give a deeper understanding of the possible pathophysiologies of their issues and why
certain medicines may have been prescribed. This interest carried my ability in achieving a distinction (graded 6) for this course, and further developed my intrigue for continuing my education around these topics.

For my other two courses, I felt that I struggled more than what I excelled. My attendance was extremely low in comparison to other Trimesters, and I didn’t find myself engaging with the content and activities. I believe that my marks for PP3 were a credit to being able to defer multiple examinations, and my First Nations Health and Practice marks reflected my harsh toil for essay writing. In retrospect, I understand that I was and continue to be surrounded by support, though during this time, my mental health was spiralling dramatically and impaired a lot of my vision. I have been fortunate in receiving aid from my now
psychologist and my regular GP, and continue on this uphill trek.

On more of a good note, however, I was successful in applying for an overseas pharmacy placement in Port Vila, Vanuatu. I was one of the three students selected from our cohort of over 100 students, and will soon be receiving some funding from the university’s Global Mobility funding pool to aid the costs of attending. The placement will be hosted by Port Vila’s public hospital for three weeks, and has been postponed to June 2025. I am very excited for this opportunity, and am grateful for the time to prepare our journey (as this placement comes with the conditions of the successful students needing to organise our own travel, accommodation, food, activities, etc.).

Looking back on the Trimester as a whole, there were some peaks and there were many troughs. My academic progress was adequate, though not to my full potential, and my personal progress was rocky. I can take much experience from Trimester 1, and although it was not immediately beneficial for me, I believe that I will be able to grow into a stronger person and a more understanding and empathetic health care professional in time to come. I am grateful for my support through last Trimester, from everything between social, psychological, academic, and financial support, and I hope I am able to somehow return this
support.