University of Wollongong medical students give back Students on regional placement help with flood clean-up on North Coast By India Glyde for The Stand stand.uow.edu.au
A team of University of Wollongong (UOW) students have been working to help their adopted community in the wake of disaster Eye-opening. Challenging. Heartwarming. Those were the words used by Gabriella Marriott, Hannah Gibbs, and Lana Morini, students from the University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Doctor of Medicine program, to describe the scenes unfolding on the NSW North Coast, in the wake of the flooding that devastated communities earlier this month. Gabriella, Hannah and Lana are part of 10 (MD) final year medical students embedded within the Lismore and Ballina community as part of their year-long rural placement.
Back- Bruce Wilson, Matthew Andersen, Viktoria Wing, Chanelle Granzien, Zachary Wilson, Jesse King Front- Gabriella Marriott, Matthew Collocott, Hannah Gibbs, Svetlana Morini
Based at hospitals, GPs, and health services throughout the region, the cohort were witnesses to the tragedy that took place as torrential rain pummeled the North Coast in early March. And, during the flooding and its aftermath, which still continues weeks later, they all pitched in to help without a moment’s hesitation. “During the flooding, several of us helped at the evacuation centres in Ballina and Goonellabah [just outside Lismore]. Ballina District Hospital was evacuated to a makeshift hospital set up at the evacuation centre, which was at a nearby school,” Gabriella said.
“We helped with handing out food, organising beds for those displaced, providing first aid, and assisting doctors and nurses at the centres.” - Gabriella Marriott “It was a unique setting with the hospital downstairs and the evacuation centre upstairs.” When the floodwater began to recede, the students pitched in with the local community to help residents wade through the wreckage and begin the arduous and ongoing job of cleaning up. “We banded together and knocked on doors in affected communities south of Ballina, which had been cut off for several
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days without any assistance. We helped to move heavy furniture, remove soggy carpets, and discard destroyed possessions. It was heartbreaking to see how much had been damaged,” Hannah added. “One of our fellow students also lost their accommodation during the flooding, so we helped to move their possessions, too.” Rebekah Hermann, Clinical Placement Facilitator at UOW’s Lismore Hub, said she was proud of the way the students dropped everything, and interrupted their own placements, to help in the community. It highlighted the strong community connections forged during regional placements, and how spending a year in a regional or rural area can be a transformative experience for senior medical students. “The students have been here since last July and they have really settled in well to the community,” Ms Hermann said. “I’ve been so impressed by their willingness to not only look after each other, but also the wider community. As the
