Community engagement

We are deeply engaged with the communities we work in and are committed to delivering improved health and educational outcomes in rural communities. In 2022, we continued to work closely with individuals and organisations within our footprint to ensure that the education and research we deliver meets community needs.

Med-Toring program

Med-Toring program inspires future health professionals In Mildura

Monash Medical Orchestra

Music returns to Latrobe Valley with free concert

Solomon Islands

Supporting healthcare in the Solomon Islands

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Aged care in Mildura View

Monash medical students in Mildura took on paid work as personal care assistants at Princes Court Community Living, helping address local workforce shortages. This opportunity gave our students the opportunity to see residents as people, not just as patients and gain valuable experience and skills that will serve them well in their future medical careers.

Read the story on ABC Australia

Opening our doors to the community View

We hosted four Regional Discovery Days at our teaching sites in Bairnsdale, Bendigo, Mildura and Warragul. These events enabled over 80 local secondary students to tour our facilities, meet with current medical students and learn about pathways into Monash University’s medical program.

Healthy patients recruited View

After two years of online assessments, Monash Rural Health ran a campaign to recruit community members to act as simulated patients for our rural medical students. Simulated patients play an important role in medical education, allowing students to develop their diagnostic, management and communication skills during assessments. Fourty-five new simulated patients joined the program in 2022.

"Simulating a patient made me feel that I was really helping the students with their educational journey...plus I felt like I was in a Hollywood audition with the great support of doctors, staff and 'stage crew’."
Aldo
2022 simulated patient

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Community Advisory Committees continue View

The Community Advisory Committees in Bendigo, Gippsland and Mildura were established in 2021, as part of the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network (MDMSN). The committees are comprised of representatives from a range of health and community-based organisations, local government, education providers and community bodies. The committees met face-to-face for the first time in 2022, and meetings were attended by current End-to-End Rural Cohort students on placement. Students provided their feedback about their experiences of the program and intentions to live, study and work rurally in the future.

Student needs were identified and links were made with Community Advisory Committee members to respond to these - from connections to sporting clubs to employment opportunities.

CAC

Monash medical students at Hattah Bush Block, hosted by Mildura Community Advisory Committee member, Neth Hinton.

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WILDFIRE activities ignite interest in rural health View

Monash University’s student Rural and Indigenous Health Club - WILDFIRE - supported pre-clinical and clinical medical students, as well as nursing and allied health students to explore their passion for rural health in 2022.

WILDFIRE recommenced their high school visits this year and ran engaging presentations around rural health career pathways in Mildura and Maffra. The club also ran the twenty-eighth Matthew Campbell Memorial Evening, an annual event in memory of the late Matthew Campbell, a Monash medicine student committed to educating students on important issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. The 2022 event was live-streamed from Clayton and featured prominent, rurally-based keynote speakers on the impact of diabetes on Indigenous communities.

Rural Health - Year in review 2022

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Community engagement

Med-Toring program

Monash Medical Orchestra

Solomon Islands

Aged care in Mildura View

Opening our doors to the community View

Healthy patients recruited View

Community Advisory Committees continue View

WILDFIRE activities ignite interest in rural health View