I was placed at Cairns Region­al Hos­pi­tal for my Region­al Rur­al Remote third year place­ment in 2020, finan­cial­ly assist­ed by a CRANAplus spon­sored Under­grad­u­ate Remote Place­ment Schol­ar­ship. As a stu­dent from the Gold Coast, I con­sid­ered myself pret­ty lucky to be going to Cairns, espe­cial­ly after COVID had can­celled my pre­vi­ous place­ment in Dar­win. Trav­el­ling alone, spend­ing six weeks away from my fam­i­ly and under­tak­ing my first hos­pi­tal place­ment was daunt­ing at first. The team at Cairns were very sup­port­ive, and I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet many oth­er OT stu­dents from dif­fer­ent uni­ver­si­ties around the state.

I was based in the gen­er­al med­ical ward and had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to prac­tise a range of clin­i­cal skills from per­son­al care assess­ments to neu­ro­log­i­cal assess­ments and home vis­its. The mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary team was very sup­port­ive and wel­com­ing and by the end of my place­ment, I tru­ly felt part of the team and could see myself work­ing in that environment.

As part of my under­grad­u­ate degree, I am com­plet­ing an Indige­nous Health Major through Gnibi Col­lege at SCU. This is a rel­a­tive­ly new oppor­tu­ni­ty for occu­pa­tion­al ther­a­py stu­dents and one I encour­age all health stu­dents to under­take if they have the oppor­tu­ni­ty. The Gimuy-Walubar­ra Yidi Peo­ple are the tra­di­tion­al cus­to­di­ans of the Cairns region. I felt very priv­i­leged to put into prac­tice some of the impor­tant skills I have learnt through my stud­ies with Gnibi Col­lege at SCU. The learn­ing from Gnibi assist­ed in my abil­i­ty to have cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate inter­ac­tions with staff, patients and the wider com­mu­ni­ty, which was immense­ly help­ful to build­ing rapport.

Although there was shared stu­dent accom­mo­da­tion avail­able in Cairns, I chose to stay in pri­vate accom­mo­da­tion I found through Airbnb, which was walk­ing-dis­tance to the hos­pi­tal. The best thing I did while in Cairns was buy­ing a sec­ond- hand push­bike off Gumtree! Not hav­ing a car, this allowed so much more free­dom. I loved rid­ing the esplanade in the after­noon, explor­ing the res­i­den­tial streets and get­ting beau­ti­ful fresh pro­duce from Rusty’s Mar­ket on the week­ends. I often caught up with oth­er stu­dents on week­ends for swims in the lagoon, din­ner and sun­set drinks by the marina.

As a moth­er, being away from my kids for six weeks was chal­leng­ing at times. How­ev­er, in hind­sight, com­plet­ing a place­ment away from fam­i­ly was help­ful, as I could put 100 per­cent focus on my place­ment and myself.

I found self care was extreme­ly impor­tant while away from home, and doing famil­iar activ­i­ties like rid­ing my bike, hik­ing and being in nature was extreme­ly help­ful in keep­ing a clear and focused mind. I didn’t con­sid­er, how­ev­er, that swims in the ocean are not the every­day occur­rence in Cairns as they are on the Gold Coast! I made it a pri­or­i­ty mid­way through my place­ment to take a boat trip out to the islands for a swim – much-need­ed beach and salt­wa­ter therapy!

I would rec­om­mend Cairns and the hos­pi­tal for any­one con­sid­er­ing a region­al place­ment. The staff and locals are extreme­ly wel­com­ing and there is so much to do and explore. I grew so much in my per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al life while being away from home and family.

Even if you’re a mature stu­dent and have fam­i­ly com­mit­ments, I encour­age you to use your sup­ports at home and take the oppor­tu­ni­ty – region­al place­ments are not out of the question!