The RCS’s new medical students, Kate Marquis, Hannah Coenen, Ashley Meagher and Mitchell Dowling. Photos: Chloe Sipeki.
It has been three weeks since four new medical students arrived in Esperance for their year of placement at the Rural Clinical School.
Ashley Meagher, Mitchell Dowling, Kate Marquis and Hannah Coenen said they had a packed agenda for their first weeks of orientation but felt as though they were quickly settling in.
“I already feel at home,” Mitchell Dowling said.
“The community has been so open and welcoming to all of us,” Ashley Meagher said, “telling us the different spots to go around town and everybody that we met has said, ‘call us any time.’”
She said, “it’s just great how supportive they are of our year because it is a bit scary.”
She said she was from Canada, and Esperance had been at the top of her list for places to visit when she first moved to Australia.
“I managed to get down here for maybe three days in December 2023,” she said.
“I absolutely loved it, so I sort of hinted in the interview, ‘Esperance please’.”
Like Ashley Meagher, the rest of the students had relocated to Esperance from the city, but for Kate Marquis, coming to Esperance was simply coming home.
Kate Marquis said she had studied away from home for some time and was thrilled to return.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to reconnect with my roots and where I grew up,” she said.
Kate said she was also excited for the study experiences that were unique to regional locations.
“We have the opportunity to be paired up with a pregnant woman and we follow her through all of her prenatal checks with the GP and have the opportunity to attend the birth and then the six-week check,” she said.
“That kind of continuity of care – following someone in such a beautiful moment and seeing a child be born into the world – is just going to be so special.”
All the students said they were optimistic about living, studying, and practising in a regional town, though the difficulties associated with medical services in regional towns were apparent to each.
“You can’t not give back to the communities that need it,” fellow student Hannah Coenen said.
“There’s so much need in all these rural and regional areas, I definitely feel a strong pull to come back.”
A spokesperson from the Rural Clinical School of WA (RCSWA) said the students are due to spend one academic year in Esperance, learning the disciplines of internal medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics, gynaecology, general practice, ophthalmology and psychiatry.
“During their RCSWA year students have the chance to develop a real understanding of and enthusiasm for community and rural life, which boosts the likelihood of their choosing a future in rural medical practice,” the spokesperson said.
