News

MBH scholarship supports Mildura nurses of the future

Mon, 21 Nov 2016 08:38:00

A scholarship that supports Mildura nursing students and invests in the region’s future nursing capacity has been extended for a further two years.

The $5000 Ramsay Health Care Nursing Scholarship is awarded by La Trobe University each year to one of the University’s locally-based students.
It was established for an initial two-year term, but Mildura Base Hospital’s executive agreed recently to extend the scholarship for a further two years.
Chief executive officer Julia Morgan said that by supporting local students, the scholarship reflects the value MBH places on nursing as a career.
“We make a lot of direct effort in trying to encourage and recruit health professionals from elsewhere, but part of the long-term work our community needs is to invest long-term in building a local health workforce by training local people,” Ms Morgan said.
“If we are to fill the growing need for nurses and other health professionals, the work of our universities in providing the courses to train our own young people right here in Mildura is so important,” she said.
“This scholarship reinforces the message to local students that nursing is a great career, training is available right here and there are excellent career paths in our local community.”
The 2015 scholarship recipient Kate Lim completed her degree at La Trobe Mildura and is now doing her Graduate Nurse year at Bendigo Health. The scholarship allowed Kate to undertake a nine-week placement at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, during which she found her career direction.
“I always wanted to be a nurse but I was really thinking about a few different avenues I could choose,” Kate said.
“But I did have an interest in paediatrics and once I started the placement at the Royal Children’s that was it – I’d found my passion,” she said.
Kate is one of only two people admitted to the Graduate Nurse Paediatric/Neonatal program at Bendigo Health.
“I’ve been working with babies in the special care nursery for six months and also in child and adolescent nursing during my graduate year,” Kate said.
“Working with sick kids can be challenging, but the good outcomes far outweigh the tough things,” she said.
“It’s so rewarding when you see a child begin to respond to the care they’re receiving and the interventions you’re putting in place. 
“The Ramsay scholarship really has impacted my life in so many ways by opening pathways that wouldn’t have been there without that financial assistance – I’ve been very lucky to find myself at the beginning of a career I just love so much.”