Why did you become a CRANAplus Member? 

I am not yet a remote health pro­fes­sion­al. How­ev­er, as a third-year stu­dent nurse with the goal to work in the rur­al and remote areas of Aus­tralia, I am excit­ed to be a part of CRANAplus as a stu­dent Mem­ber. Hav­ing heard fan­tas­tic things about CRANAplus from oth­er nurs­es, I was inspired to join as a stu­dent Mem­ber in order to fur­ther my pas­sion for rur­al and remote nurs­ing. Addi­tion­al­ly, the prospect of join­ing oth­er rur­al and remote health work­ers in striv­ing to improve access to, and qual­i­ty of, rur­al and remote health care was too incred­i­ble to not be a part of.

What do you love about remote health?

I grew up in Sin­ga­pore, which is essen­tial­ly a tiny island city, hence I spent the first 16 years of my life in an urban envi­ron­ment, which made me explore non-urban health­care access across the world as a method to under­stand dif­fer­ing per­spec­tives and expe­ri­ences. I moved to a region­al area of NSW in which I nav­i­gat­ed the health sys­tem and fur­ther explored the dis­par­i­ty in ser­vices and acces­si­bil­i­ty even on a region­al lev­el. These expe­ri­ences have dri­ven me towards the goal of sup­ply­ing high-qual­i­ty nurs­ing care to region­al, rur­al and remote com­mu­ni­ties. I believe the post­code lot­tery in health­care access should not exist, and my pri­ma­ry dri­ving force as a stu­dent nurse has been to become a mem­ber of the rur­al and remote nurs­ing work­force to help elim­i­nate this barrier.

What career goals are you build­ing towards? 

I am striv­ing to become a Rur­al Gen­er­al­ist Nurse Prac­ti­tion­er. This is a pas­sion that I’ve had for a long time and one I wish to share with oth­ers to inspire and encour­age oth­er stu­dents to pur­sue rur­al and remote health­care roles. 

What do you wish oth­er peo­ple knew about being a remote health professional? 

I wish oth­er stu­dents realised how much of a huge impact one can make in rur­al and remote loca­tions as a nurse. The oppor­tu­ni­ties on offer in rur­al and remote health facil­i­ties, espe­cial­ly as an ear­ly career nurse, are incredible.