Working in our regions

Transcript for Daniel's healthy move

[Peaceful piano music plays in the background]

>> Daniel:

I really love that I get to raise my girls in Atherton. It’s this amazing place with beautiful landscapes, pristine rainforest right there on your doorstep.

I thought ‘wouldn’t it be amazing if I could live here and not just have to travel up for a holiday’ and then I got into medicine and thought, ‘hang on a sec, this is a career that can take me anywhere.’

I still have to pinch myself occasionally that I’ve got work that I love, living in this place that I love and I get to do all the things that I love to do.

Halfway through med school I made the decision to go and train rural. The things that you’re exposed to and the responsibility that you have is just enormous. If something comes through the door, you’re front and centre, it’s on you. There’s just this huge variety of moments and you’re right there for them. That’s what I love about rural medicine. Every single one of my days is something completely different.

I feel like I’ve grown immensely not just because I’m now a father of two beautiful girls but coming here and starting as a junior doctor and working through the ranks to become a senior doctor, the responsibility that entails to the hospital, to the community, you can’t help but respond to that with personal growth.

Coming here has been the best decision I’ve ever made for my career, my family and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

>> Voiceover: With hundreds of health  jobs available in regional, rural and remote Queensland, make a healthy career move today.

[Background music Fades]

[Text on screen] Ongoing training and professional support. Attractive salary packages. Relocation and housing support.

[Text on screen] Search for Queensland Health Jobs

[Queensland Government Crest appears on screen]

[Tagline on screen] Queensland, Good jobs, Better services, Great Lifestyle.

End of transcript

Transcript for ‘Health careers in the Cassowary Coast, North Queensland’

[Peaceful background music and bird sounds play in the background]

>> Dr Nicola Woods, PHO:

So I was attracted to this region in general, just cause it's a beautiful part of the world. It's got, you know, the incredible rainforest, there's lots of outdoors things. It's got the Great Barrier Reef, so many things to do on the weekends. There's great markets, there's great food. Bit of all sorts of things really.

I think my favourite thing to do in this area outside of work is probably getting out to the reef. We've got the Great Barrier Reef on our doorstep here and it's a hop skip and a jump. There's lots of, you know, islands, Dunk Island and things that have public access to them as well.

>> Dr Thomas Coombs, Rural Generalist Anaesthetist/Director of Medical Services:

When I first moved here, I really hadn't stayed in any one place for more than a year and a half for a really long time. And when I first started working here, I had no plans to stay here for a long period.

I find that living in Mission Beach, it's a really, it's really good for me. It keeps me really, centred and grounded and I find that just being able to get out into the rainforest to go for a run or get out on the boat to go out to the islands on the reef, it really balances up the quite hectic activity that you can get in a rural hospital.

>> Jessica Crabtree, Registered Midwife:

For us, a special place to go to is probably Etty Bay because it is easy to access. It's probably only 15-minute drive and you get really clear water, and it sometimes feels like you're on a little isolated island cause of the bay, and you get the beautiful Cassowaries walking past. So it's pretty magical.

>> Dr Sally Barkla, Rural Generalist Obstetrician:

I was attracted to Innisfail about six years ago. I was actually here as a sixth-year medical student. I was studying at James Cook University, and I was drawn to more the rural environment in a smaller hospital and we enjoy fishing, and so that was, the thought was to come back here and enjoy the fishing and the small hospital and the North Queensland climate.

>> Jessica Crabtree, Registered Midwife:  

What attracted me to Innisfail was the job opportunity. It was an opportunity that I couldn't get anywhere else. I moved down here with not a lot of experience at all. I'd just graduated, and I got to be in a model of care midwifery group practice, which lots of graduate midwives can't get into in Australia. So for me to be able to get that as a new graduate midwife is pretty amazing.

>> Dr Daniel Charles, Rural Generalist Anaesthetist:

Yeah, Innisfail's a, it's a really interesting place to live and to work. It's such a culturally diverse place. Some really interesting medicine, a lot of tropical sorts of medical conditions that we deal with here that are really interesting to treat. And I think the best thing about the place is the team. It's a diverse team that has a lot of different experiences in lots of different areas, really supportive, good-humoured, and, you know, if you don't know the answer to something, the odds are with the team that we've got here, someone else will, or they'll at least know where to point you.

>> Dr Nicola Woods, PHO:

I think in terms of career growth, there's lots of opportunities down here. There's a really good core group of the kind of the senior medical officers that provide lots of opportunities for training. I know, Dr. Coombs, our director down here is really interested in things like ultrasound. So we've got, you know, excellent ultrasound machines, but also the capacity to have people who are willing to teach you in those kind of areas as well.

>> Dr Thomas Coombs, Rural Generalist Anaesthetist/Director of Medical Services:

So aside from the work that we do individually, we're also becoming more of a training facility. So the growth in rural generalism is bringing trainees to the area and we aim to become leaders in the trainees training of rural generalists.

>> Dr Sally Barkla, Rural Generalist Obstetrician:

I love this facility. I enjoy working here because we've got a great collegial network. My colleagues are wonderful and supportive. There's been doctors who've been here for many years now and which is wonderful because it means that they enjoy working here and living here.

>> Dr Daniel Charles, Rural Generalist Anaesthetist:

A lot of people think you've got to go down south to do medical training to become a successful doctor. I couldn't disagree with that more and often, you know, in fact I would almost think the opposite. The doctors that I've looked up to most in my training have done a lot of their time rurally and that, you know, cut their teeth in rural medicine, and that's often the best way to get clinical experience.

>> Jessica Crabtree, Registered Midwife:  

I've made some really good friends here and mainly through my work. A lot of the people that work here have moved here for this job and so we all want to connect with each other, and we want to have really deep and meaningful relationships, so I really find that I work with a team that I'm friends with.

>> Dr Nicola Woods, PHO:

I mean, one of the great things about working up here is the commute. So particularly when I was here last year, they put you up in a house that's literally adjacent to the hospital.

>> Dr Daniel Charles, Rural Generalist Anaesthetist:

No traffic at all in Innisfail. It makes me much less tolerable if I'm on a holiday in a big city because living up here, you never have to deal with anything like that. And then Cairns is right there, you know, you're an hour from an international airport and apparently living in a rural city. So that's, that's awesome to me. So yeah, I think there's, there's a lot more going on in Innisfail, a lot more going forward than people sort of think from that sort of services point of view.

>> Dr Nicola Woods, PHO:

So in, in this area, I feel like there's a really wide range of services. When I was here, particularly last year, I was training for the half ironman. So I was really using those gyms and swimming pools and things which are really accessible.

If I was talking to someone who was thinking of moving to Innisfail to live and work, I would a hundred percent recommend it. I think it's a, it's a great part of the world where the, the opportunities to do things outside of work are just so varied and kind of the kind of things that you can't really do anywhere else in Australia with the reef and the rainforest and things like that.

>> Jessica Crabtree, Registered Midwife:  

Sounds really cliche, but it is my favourite job. It is my dream job and probably why I've stayed here for so long. And I bought a house and my husband works here. My children go to the school here. It's given me everything that I wanted, so don't underestimate a small town and give it a go because I love it. It's been a really big answer for me.

[Text on screen] Live, work, play on the Cassowary Coast…

[Music fades out while showing picturesque images of Innisfail]

[Text on screen]Proudly supported by Cassowary Coast Regional Council (logo) followed by Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service logo

End of transcript

Transcript from ‘Hear from our staff about working at Mareeba Hospital’

[Upbeat background music plays while drone footage of Innisfail Hospital and the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service logo is shown]

>> Dr Brian Treanor, Director of Medical Services:

Hello, I'm Brian Treanor, Director of Medical Services here at Mareeba Hospital. Far North Queensland is a great place to live and Mareeba is the best place to work. I came to Mareeba for 12 months in 2016. Seven years later, I'm still here.

And that's the story you're going to hear from many of our doctors.

I don't know what sort of rural generalist you want to be, but you can do it all here at Mareeba. But don't just take my word for it. Have a listen to what the team say about what a great place Mareeba is.

>> Dr Eliza Spann, Senior Medical Officer:

I first came to Mareeba Hospital as a junior doctor on rotation from Cairns Hospital. That was nine years ago now. I've now been back at Mareeba Hospital for the best part of six years.

>> Tori Borghero, Registered Nurse:

I actually grew up in the Mareeba district, so being offered a graduate position here meant that I'm able to live closer to my family.

>> Keerthika Pirapaharan, JCU Medical Student:

As a final year medical student, I'm always eager to gain experiences that challenge my abilities, skills and knowledge. Hence why I chose to complete my rural placement at Mareeba Hospital.

>> Jennifer Fitzsimons, Director of Nursing:

It was an opportunity for a sea change for me. I'd been living in Western Sydney for pretty much my entire life. The area really attracted me. It's a, it's a beautiful part of the world.

>> Dr Jaden Bollman, Intern:

I knew what good experience it had to offer and I knew the case mix and the skill level of the rural generalists that I was going to be working under.

>> Dr Peter Christensen, Senior Medical Officer:

I came to Mareeba Hospital when I was a junior doctor and I returned to the team after I knew how good it was to work here in a supportive environment with a great education program.

>> Bonnie McMillan, Registered Nurse:

I love working in Mareeba because it's a small knit community and a small knit community makes for a family-like work environment.

>> Dr Toby Hopton, Senior Medical Officer:

I found it really supportive and friendly staff and it's been really good working as part of a smaller group of doctors.

>> Jennifer Fitzsimons, Director of Nursing:

The team are fantastic here. They're very welcoming, passionate about providing holistic care to the community.

>> Keerthika Pirapaharan, JCU Medical Student:

My experience at Mareeba Hospital has been nothing but amazing. It's been a privilege to work alongside senior doctors who have been outstandingly supportive in helping me develop my clinical skills and knowledge.

>> Dr Timothy Cahill, Senior Medical Officer:

It gives you the opportunity to be involved in a variety of different aspects of patient care.

>> Dr Toby Hopton, Senior Medical Officer:

The best parts about working at Mareeba Hospital is the variety of medicine that we get to practice.

>> Tori Borghero, Registered Nurse:

We get all sorts of cases come in every day, and as a young nurse, I find that really great for me, personally.

>> Dr Jaden Bollman, Intern:

Today's been a great example of what it's like to work in rural medicine. I started off the day on a ward round and was pulled to ED to help in a resus. I then organized the retrieval of that patient and was then called to theatre to help with a procedure and then I've spent the rest of my afternoon back doing the ward round.

>> Dr Marianna Boscariol, ACRRM Registrar:

I found it really interesting working at Lotus Glen Correctional Centre.

>> Tori Borghero, Registered Nurse:

It's a completely different style of nursing out there and I've found that I've been able to develop versatility, adaptability, and also grow on my clinical assessment skills out there.

>> Dr Eliza Spann, Senior Medical Officer:

I truly think it is the team here in Mareeba that keeps me coming back.

>> Jennifer Fitzsimons, Director of Nursing:

Everyone is well engaged, they work together. It's a really good team environment.

>> Dr Andrina Penfold, Senior Medical Officer:

Being able to know everyone on first name basis is such a bonus, as well as only a short trip to Cairns, which offers more facilities. You know, where else can you get all the bonuses of being rural and the benefits of an international airport? It's fantastic.

>> Dr Peter Christensen, Senior Medical Officer:

I’d definitely recommend Mareeba as a place to work.

>> Dr Eliza Spann, Senior Medical Officer:

We've got such a great team of senior medical officers who are all interested in their area and their advanced skill and that are keen to teach and to learn.

>> Tori Borghero, Registered Nurse:

The staff are really supportive and I feel encouraged to grow as a registered nurse here.

>> Dr Marianna Boscariol, ACRRM Registrar:

It's really nice being able to do part-time GP and part-time hospital at the same time. So then that way you kind of have that continuity of care.

>> Jennifer Fitzsimons, Director of Nursing:

I think it's a fantastic opportunity to broaden your skillset and I think if you really want to challenge yourself, it's a perfect opportunity.

>> Bonnie McMillan, Registered Nurse:

I find working in a rural town great, Mareeba hospital is extremely well-equipped, and I definitely don't feel like I'm missing out on opportunities.

>> Dr Timothy Cahill, Senior Medical Officer:

I enjoy the fact that I can live 10 minutes from where I work. I can park at the back door; I can find a car park at Woolworths on the way home.

>> Keerthika Pirapaharan, JCU Medical Student:

It's been impressive to see the dedication and commitment of all the staff here. I've seen first-hand the positive impact that they have had on their patient's lives.

>> Dr Brian Treanor, Director of Medical Services:

Thanks for taking the time to watch our video. If you want to get in touch, we'd love to hear from you. If you want to come and have a visit, you're welcome anytime.

[Music ends with another overhead image of Innisfail Hospital]

[Text on screen] Scan here to view the CHHHS Careers page for further information with QR code and Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service logo on screen.

End of transcript

Transcript from ‘Hear from our staff about working at Tully Hospital’

[Upbeat background music plays while drone footage of the town of Tully and the hospital is shown]

>> Dr Alfred Song, Director of Medical Services/Senior Medical Officer: Hello, I'm Doctor Alfred Song. I'm the Director of Medical Services and a Senior Medical Officer here at Tully Hospital.

>> Vicki Harragon, Director of Nursing/Facility Manager: Hello, I'm Vicki Harragon, the Director of Nursing and Midwifery and facility manager of Tully hospital.

Tully township is made up predominantly of agriculture, namely bananas, sugarcane, cattle, and tropical fruits, and this is the community that we serve.

>> Dr Alfred Song, Director of Medical Services/Senior Medical Officer: Tully Hospital is a level two hospital, and we provide care through our emergency department, inpatient wards, as well as outpatient GP clinics.

We are also serviced by visiting clinicians and physicians, and if you're training to be a rural generalist, whether you're a doctor, a nurse, or allied health, Tully is a great place to be and let our team tell you more about it.

>> Dr Nameana Marcella Seve, Senior Medical Officer: I came to Tully Hospital in 2020 and I was only meant to come in for three months as a relieving doctor. Three and a half years later, I'm still here.

Tully Hospital has come a long way. It used to be a community of almost up to 5,000, looked after by one doctor and being on call every day. So, from that situation, more than 10 years ago until now, we have up to nine doctors, five seniors and four juniors. We have Director Medical Services, Dr Alfred, who really supports us.

>> Petra Chvatalova, Clinical Nurse: One of the best things in this hospital is that we are such a tight-knit community and we work really well together. The teamwork is exceptional here.

>> Mina Shinwarie (sitting with Karini Srinivasan), JCU MBBS Year 2 Students: As very young medical students who've not had much exposure to the clinical side of medicine, Tully has been a wonderful change to that. The whole team, not just the doctors, the nurses, the allied health have really made it a nurturing environment.

I feel like we both are comfortable enough to speak up and say we don't know something and not be embarrassed or ashamed. They facilitated a very positive and learning environment.

>> Elsy Joseph, Nurse Unit Manager: I moved from the Sunshine Coast three months ago to be the Nurse Unit Manager for Tully Hospital and now I'm thinking why wasn't I here earlier?

We are a small facility yet with a busy emergency department and an acute medical ward. We also provide primary healthcare through GP clinics.

>> Dr Amber Weidman, Resident Medical Officer: My name's Amber, I'm a PGY 2 resident from Cairns Hospital. So I've come here as a resident, in mainly a GP role, so I do a bit of ward and ED, but a lot of the time I'm in the clinic here in the GP practice.

The GP clinic is really a fun place to work because the clinic's actually part of the hospital. So, a lot of the time I'll see a patient on the ward or in ED and I'll actually follow them up in a few days’ time in the clinic so I know their background already and it's good continuity of care.

>> Sophie Popham, Senior Physiotherapist: I'm the only physio here at Tully Hospital together with our allied health staff. We cover the wards, outpatients and emergency department as well. Today my littlest one is a two-month-old baby and the oldest one I'll see is a 91-year-old lady, so we see a bit of everything which is really cool to learn.

>> Dr Michaela Van Raders, Principal House Officer: I've grown as a diagnostician. Working in Tully Hospital I've had to think a lot more than I've had to in the past.

One of the biggest challenges is the logistics of everyone who comes in who needs an investigation that just because they've come to a rural centre that doesn't have that investigation doesn't mean that they shouldn't get it. And the logistics of just even organising a CT abdomen and trying to figure out the either road transfer or air transfer and talking to all the relevant people. Being able to do that is very challenging, but it's also very rewarding and the staff here are incredibly supportive at helping you reach those decisions.

>> Petra Chvatalova, Clinical Nurse: We are such a small facility, so the services are limited. So on top of our duties, some of the nurses also do x-rays, which can be quite challenging at times. But it's something that needs to be done for the community.

>> Dr Gun Hee An, Senior Medical Officer: The biggest thing that I struggle with medicine is creativity, and I think the more rural that you go helps you to be more creative because you haven't got much resources. So you have to always think about what is the safest thing to do for a patient given the resources that you've got. And I think places like Tully is great because you can be a bit more autonomous and a bit more independent with your clinical practice.

>> Petra Chvatalova, Clinical Nurse: You can pretty much experience anything here. It can be anything from GP related presentation to full-blown, big emergencies so there is quite a wide area of knowledge to gain here.

>> Dr Leonie Fromberg, Senior Medical Officer: It's pretty difficult to find another spot in Australia that's as good as the Cassowary Coast and Tully and Mission Beach.

>> Sophie Popham, Senior Physiotherapist: The lifestyle is one of the things that encouraged us to come up here. Our weekends are always normally pretty busy, so you know, we like going out to the reef, going diving, spear fishing, fishing, snorkelling around.

[Vision of the reef, the coastline, and staff fishing]

>> Dr Leonie Fromberg, Senior Medical Officer: We've got so much local produce around that. if you really challenge yourself, you can find just about everything you need in the area. I really love that challenge of being able to forage your own stuff and create some great meals and decrease your carbon footprint and live in a beautiful area.

[Vision of staff eating and holding the seafood they have caught followed by the Mission Beach coastline]

I've moved to Mission Beach. The place is beautiful, and I always had a dream of owning a boat. So, two dreams - one was to become a doctor, the other one was the boat.

>> Raelynn King, Clinical Nurse: There's lots of walks, there's the beach, there's the reef, there's lots of waterfalls and waterholes. Really lovely place to work actually.

>> Petra Chvatalova, Clinical Nurse: Mm-Hmm. Yeah, it is, yeah. Also, some, you know, like a really nice community culture with the coffee shops and community markets and all sorts of things.

>> Elsy Joseph, Nurse Unit Manager: So, for nurses who are looking for a variety of experience, including acute experience, this is the best place to work.

>> Dr Nameana Marcella Seve, Senior Medical Officer: I like being a rural doctor. It's a lot of, you know, satisfaction and I think Tully is a really good place to work.

>> Dr Alfred Song, Director of Medical Services/Senior Medical Officer: Alright, so you've heard from our team, if you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch and we hope to see you at Tully Hospital very soon.

>> Vicki Harragon, Director of Nursing/Facility Manager: You are all very welcome.

[Music ends with vision panning out from Tully Hospital]

[Text on screen] Scan here to view the CHHHS Careers page for further information with QR code and Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service logo on screen.

End of transcript

Transcript from ‘Hear from our medical staff at Atherton Hospital’

[Background music plays while drone footage of Atherton Hospital and the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service logo is shown]

>> Dr Elizabeth Hawkins, Director of Medical Services: Welcome to Atherton Hospital, situated at the southern end of the Atherton Tablelands, about an hour and a half from Cairns. My own journey in Atherton started almost 30 years ago when I came to the hospital for six months to finish my rural training and never quite left.

As you'll see, our country hospital is growing up with recent upgrade in infrastructure to provide new ward areas, ED, theatre and medical imaging. But what's most important is what goes on the inside.

Atherton is a great place to live and work. Here's what some of our doctors have to say.

>> Dr Lloyd Malone, Senior Medical Officer: I came to Atherton Hospital as a job after being in the Army for over 20 years. I've been here now for two years. My family decided that we needed to come and live on the Tablelands.

>> Dr Daniel Crow, Senior Medical Officer: I actually sought out Atherton Hospital fairly early on in my career. I had visited here for a holiday and just fell in love with the location. So as soon as I got into medicine, one of the first things I looked at is what sort of hospital is in Atherton and how can I get there?

>> Dr Sam Bartsch, Principal House Officer: I guess being born and bred in Townsville and then doing my university study at JCU, I've always loved the region up here and feel connected to up here. When choosing a hospital, where to train, I'd heard of the great culture at Atherton Hospital.

>> Dr Angela Barrie, Senior Medical Officer: I met one of the other doctors that was working here at a registrar training workshop that I had, and she was telling me all about how good it was at Atherton Hospital.

>> Dr Renee Guli, Senior Medical Officer: I heard that the culture here was an amazing one, so it was an easy decision to come and work in Atherton.

>> Dr Erin Jeffrey, Provisional Fellow: I grew up on the Tablelands, so this is sort of home for me. It's my first year back in quite a few years, and Atherton had always been a dream. It's got a really good reputation for rural generalism. I have made my way back home essentially.

>> Dr Nick Cairns, Senior Medical Officer: The beauty of working here as a PHO, no week looks the same. So, some weeks I'm here in the emergency department where I'm supervised by the rural generalist. Other weeks I'm up on either the medical or the surgical ward. Other weeks I'm in theatres, so that's what I love about working here.

>> Dr Lloyd Malone, Senior Medical Officer: I'm employed as a GP anaesthetist and my scope covers off emergency medicine and acute care. So pretty much the only thing that I don't do is deliver babies on purpose.

>> Dr Renee Guli, Senior Medical Officer: So, my job in Atherton is as an obstetric SMO. It can be anything from working on the wards, which I'm doing this week, to down in the emergency department, and then sometimes I get to work in the maternity unit as well.

>> Dr Nick Cairns, Senior Medical Officer: Atherton Hospital, it's a great place to work. We're fortunate enough to have just moved into a new facility. So, what that means is that we can provide really high-quality care in these rural settings.

>> Dr Daniel Crow, Senior Medical Officer: I really love the type of work I get to do here. Probably more so I just love the people that I work with.

>> Dr Casey Baxter, Senior Medical Officer: The main thing that I love about Atherton is the team, it's a real kind of happy vibe, everyone pulls together.

>> Dr Renee Guli, Senior Medical Officer: It's basically like coming to work with our family.

>> Dr Erin Jeffrey, Provisional Fellow: I really am just enjoying this team of, of wonderful, supportive colleagues.

>> Dr Lloyd Malone, Senior Medical Officer: The sense of humour and the personalities that you get to work with in this place every day are pretty awesome. There's people who've come from all around the world to be here. I thought it was a bit kitsch and probably just marketing, but it's pretty close to true, it's paradise around the place.

>> Dr Nick Cairns, Senior Medical Officer: The opportunities for teaching and learning here at Atherton Hospital are sort of fantastic.

>> Dr Renee Guli, Senior Medical Officer: I run the education roster, so every Wednesday we have a different teaching topic, led by a different SMO or specialist.

>> Dr Casey Baxter, Senior Medical Officer: There's GP education on a Thursday morning, we can dial into different things from Cairns, and certainly the Cairns Emergency guys come up and sometimes put on some special days for us et cetera.

>> Dr Angela Barrie, Senior Medical Officer: We get a variety of interns and med students coming over from Cairns so we can be a part of teaching all of them and, you know, showing them how good it is to work in rural life.

>> Dr Daniel Crow, Senior Medical Officer: When I came to Atherton, I was a registrar, so still in my training, and now I have the opportunity to pass that on to the junior doctors.

>> Dr Sam Bartsch, Principal House Officer: The main learning that I receive is through on-the-job, hands-on experience, which I believe is the best way to learn.

>> Dr Renee Guli, Senior Medical Officer: Living in Atherton is beautiful.

>> Dr Sam Bartsch, Principal House Officer: There's reason that the Atherton Tablelands is such a popular tourist destination. There's so much to do here.

>> Dr Lloyd Malone, Senior Medical Officer: Life around the Tablelands is rich for culture, for food, for good outdoor activities.

>> Dr Sam Bartsch, Principal House Officer: I live five minutes from Lake Tinaroo, so we spend our time water skiing or wakeboarding on the lake.

>> Dr Daniel Crow, Senior Medical Officer They've got the reef not too far away, the Daintree, we've got stunning waterfalls.

>> Dr Lloyd Malone, Senior Medical Officer: If we need it, we're not that far from the international airport at Cairns, so we can be anywhere in Australia or the Pacific in a couple of hops and it's very convenient.

>> Dr Nick Cairns, Senior Medical Officer: When we moved down, we bought a small farm. We've got 14 acres down on the dam. I've got my three children sort of growing up in sort of a really a lovely environment.

>> Dr Lloyd Malone, Senior Medical Officer: It takes me only 12 minutes to get here from home to be at work. I can be on call at home. I don't have a long commute. If there's lots of traffic, it might take me 14 minutes. It's a very comfortable and convenient lifestyle.

>> Dr Erin Jeffrey, Provisional Fellow: It's great. Living here is fantastic. Swimming is probably one of my favourite things to do, and there's just endless opportunities here. It's such a wonderful place to live.

>> Dr Elizabeth Hawkins, Director of Medical Services: Living, and working in Atherton has so much to offer. The opportunity to work to your full scope of practice while providing care to people in your own community, as well as the opportunity to live in an amazing tropical setting.

If the idea of working in Atherton interests you, please contact us here.

[Music ends with vision panning out and above from the Hospital]

[Text on screen] Scan here to view the CHHHS Careers page for further information with QR code and Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service logo on screen.

End of transcript

Transcript from ‘Hear from our staff about working at Babinda Multi-Purpose Health Service’

[Upbeat background music plays while drone footage of the town of Babinda and the facility is shown]

>> Dr Renee Cremen, Director of Medical Services: Hi, welcome to Babinda Multi-Purpose Health Service. We're a general practice, emergency department, hospital, and residential aged care facility all under the one roof.
Here at Babinda Multi-Purpose Health Service, we can meet your rural generalist training requirements and we're the only general practice training facility accredited within the Cairns and Hinterland district.
We are excited to welcome you to come and see what Babinda could offer you for your training requirements, whether it's medical, nursing, or allied health.

>> Hayley Marano, Occupational Therapist: There's so many great parts about working in Babinda. I like the variety. Obviously, it's a really diverse setting. You get exposed to lots of rural generalist skills.

>> Dr Carolyn Belonogoff, Rural Generalist Registrar: I like the diversity of the work that I get to do. I have patients who I see in the clinic and then if they show up on the other end at ED, I know their background and history. So, it's very convenient having the flexibility of managing a patient that you know well because you've managed them from the primary care aspect.

>> Dr Benjamin Gladwin, Provisional Senior Medical Officer: I've come down to Babinda because it's a training facility for ACRRM and it gives me an opportunity to do some rural and remote medicine in a place that is a small community. I get GP exposure and I get emergency department exposure and hospital exposure all in one place.

>> Dr Maddison Giudice, Medical Intern: I found Babinda an amazing place to start my internship. The doctors, the nurses, the allied health staff, all of the admin staff have been really welcoming and keen to teach. I love that there's a variety of presentations that I can get to work in the ward, go to the ED,and then do clinic all in the same day.

>> Teisha Clark, Registered Nurse: I enjoy working across a multidisciplinary team at Babinda Hospital. I get to work with doctors, nurses, allied health.

>> Samantha Evans, A/Clinical Nurse: We've got residential aged care, the clinic, ED, and of course the acute ward is fantastic. You get to experience all those different people, all the different cases, medically and socially of course. Babinda is a very social community and a lot of our patients and residents are locals.

>> Dr Jack De Guingand, Senior Medical Officer: I guess a typical week at Babinda would, you know, I might work Monday and Tuesday in the clinic. Then I might get a handover from the other SMO on the ward and do the on-call that evening, and then Tuesday night on-call. I'd then do Wednesday through the day in the hospital. Maybe another on-call, and then Friday might be a final day in the hospital, or I might be back in the clinic. So, I think that roster works really well and it's really flexible.
We've got a, you know, a small team but a dynamic team and we're really supportive of each other.

>> Teisha Clark, Registered Nurse: Babinda Hospital support you in trying to further your career. So, we have regular intervention with our management about our career goals and plans and they're very supportive in trying to help you achieve those goals.

>> Dr Jack De Guingand, Senior Medical Officer: There’s lots of continuing education here. At Babinda I've continued to work as a registrar through my ACRRM training. I've done my GP MCQ and my viva exams, my StAMPS, which have been really well supported by Babinda. I've had, been able to get leave, when I needed to for my exams and for study.

>> Zenobia Peralta, A/Clinical Nurse: Working in Babinda is like working with family.

>> Samantha Evans, A/Clinical Nurse: The friendliness of the staff across the board, operational, nursing, medical, everybody's very welcoming.

>> Melanie Lyons, Physiotherapist: The relationships that you build with both the community, the medical team, the nursing team, the allied health team is just such a wonderful experience, and everyone's been really supportive, of me during my time here.

>> Teisha Clark, Registered Nurse: I also enjoy how flexible it is having a young family, so I've got really supportive management who are happy to accommodate and a really supportive team who support me with that as well.

>> Brodie Campbell, 6^th Year Medical Student: This area is so nice, there's lots of things to do on the weekend. If you don't mind a bit of rain and getting a bit wet, there's some really great walks around.

>> Melanie Lyons, Physiotherapist: There's definitely some beautiful walks and hikes around the area. There's the Pyramid, Behana Gorge, Nandroya Falls.

>> Dr Thorsten (Todd) Stein, Senior Medical Officer: I bush walk, I do a bit of running, I do a bit of cycling and I spend time with the family.

>> Dr Benjamin Gladwin, Provisional Senior Medical Officer: Oh, it's beautiful up here. I can't imagine you'd want to live anywhere else really. Like you get all the great parts about the tropics. You're close to the coast, you're near to the barrier reef, you know, there's thousands of things to do on the weekend, walks, the Babinda Boulders are just down the road. I mean, the other things are the community stuff, like the local restaurants are all owned by people who you see in clinic. It's really easy to integrate into a place that's that small and that close.

>> Dr Renee Cremen, Director of Medical Services: Now that you've heard from our team, if you're interested in pursuing your career here with us at Babinda, we look forward to you reaching out by phone or arranging to come and have a visit and see our facility in person.

[Music ends with vision panning out from the town of Babinda]

[Text on screen] Scan here to view the CHHHS Careers page for further information with QR code and Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service logo on screen.

End of transcript

Transcript for ‘A day in the life of a rural doctor (CHHHS)’

[Uplifting music plays]

[Text on screen] A day in the life of a rural doctor – Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service shown over vision of man putting his shoes on before walking outside of his tropical-looking home

[Vision from car along a local street and view of the ocean]

[Dr Thomas Coombs running, then walking, along a rainforest track, followed by him making a coffee and sitting on his balcony with a view of the rainforest and ocean in the distance]

[Dr Coombs picking up a baby wallaby using a pillowcase, locking the door to his house, and getting into his car. Car driving along wet roads, through rainforest, and past a Cassowary warning sign on the way to work]

[Dr Coombs walking up to the front entrance of Innisfail hospital, followed by him chatting to staff whilst having a coffee]

[Examining then doing an ultrasound of a patient on a hospital bed, then putting on scrubs to work on a patient in operating room]

[Vision of a local café, with Dr Coombs and other staff enjoying a shared lunch]

[Dr Coombs and two female staff walking away from the café, smiling and waving]

[Text on screen] A day in the life of a rural doctor – Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service shown over an aerial image of Innisfail

[Music fades]

[End screen] Transition to Queensland Government and Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service logo

End of transcript