Rodney Stevens

In an effort to ease the Clarence Valley’s crippling doctor shortage, the Clarence Valley Orchestra has turned to music as a creative way to raise money for a scholarship to attract medical students to the region.

Acutely aware there are not enough doctors to serve the region, Clarence Valley Orchestra conductor and artistic director, Dr Greg Butcher, an audiologist, thought they could use the power of music to make a difference to medical services.

After contacting Grafton Base Hospital to find out how the orchestra could help, Dr Butcher discovered the University of Wollongong’s UOW Graduate School of Medicine plays a significant role in training students to attract future medical practitioners to regional, rural, and remote areas.

Drawing on the community’s connection with the UOW the Clarence Valley Orchestra Medical Student Scholarship was created.

Last month, Clarence Valley Orchestra held An Afternoon at the Pops, a performance headlined by Maclean tenor Connor Willmore and alto Lisa Butcher, to raise money for the scholarship.

Currently UOW students in the unique and innovative Doctor of Medicine program spend 12 months of their degree on placement in a regional, rural, or remote community, and Grafton Base Hospital is a popular location for trainee doctors.

The scholarship was devised in consultation with UOW staff based at Grafton Base Hospital and will provide $5000 to final year medical students who undertake their placement in the Clarence Valley.

This year will be the first year the scholarship, that will award $15,000 over the next three years to UOW Doctor of Medicine students, has been offered.

Dr Butcher said the community was delighted to support a scholarship that would encourage medical students to undertake placement in Grafton and consider establishing themselves in the region.

“We are thrilled that the orchestra can support a program that may benefit the Clarence Valley in the future and help the medical shortage and dire straits the community is in currently,” Dr Butcher said.

“The scholarship program is ‘thinking outside the box’, trying to find different ways to assess a difficult situation and making headway with addressing the issue.

“It is known that such placements encourage students to return to practise in rural communities and have a better understanding and appreciation of medicine in these areas.”

UOW Dean of Graduate Medicine Professor Zsuzsoka Kecskes said UOW’s focus on embedding medical students in regional communities for 12 months sets it apart from other medical programs.

“It is the first medical school in the country in which up to 70 per cent of students spend a full year of clinical training in a rural community,” Professor Kecskes said.

“This experience helps graduates prepare for the many challenges they will face on a daily basis if they choose to practice in these areas, but also shines a light on the benefits of living and working outside the city.”

For more information about the scholarship visit https://scholarships.uow.edu.au/scholarships/search?scholarship=3161