A group of health students from various cities are in the centre of Australia to encourage rural kids to pursue a career in the industry.
There are a already number of initiatives trying to convince health students to consider swapping city life for rural living, but the National Rural Health Students’ Network (NRHSN) is going one step further.
It is trying to address a shortage in rural health workers by targeting rural children that still haven’t decided what they want to be when they grow up.
NRHSN representative Sophie Alpen is one of the students that travelled from around Australia to man a stall at the Eco Fair in Alice Springs on the weekend.
She says its important to entice kids from an early age.
“The most solid data we have is that kids with a rural background are more likely to return to rural areas,” she said.
“Second to that is that students in their health degrees have positive rural experiences.
“So those are the two things, apart from marrying someone in a rural area, that will make them go rural.”
So how are they getting kids excited about health?
“We’ve got brushing techniques and dental hygiene as well as ear health, so we’re using models and getting kids practically involved in that sort of stuff.
“We’re doing plaster casts for the kids and just making sure they see that health is fun and that the body is actually really amazing.”
And it seems to be working.
Six-year-old Gabriel Brittain has never said he wanted to be a doctor before, but getting a plaster cast on his arm seems to have changed all that.
“They wrapped some stuff around it and they dipped some water on it and then they did two more and they had to clip it together,” he said.
“[Doctors] are nice and cool and I like doctors.”