Honouring vocations of care - Summer 2025 AMA NSW Doctor article

The following is an excerpt from an article published in the Summer 2025 Edition of AMA NSW Doctor Magazine

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Country doctors can inevitably be more in tune with the seasons than their city counterparts. Up, over and beyond the ranges, the contrasting heat of summer or frosts of winter herald changing rounds of activity in communities dependent on gathering harvests.

Some seasons bring bounty and some seasons bring want, but in recent years there’s been a dependable seasonal event for all rural health professionals to look forward to, regardless of flood, fire or pandemic.

Since 2020, November has been known as ‘Rural Health Month’, an opportunity for a multidisciplinary ‘coming together’ of the rural health community for a series of educational and networking events with a ‘rural positive’ focus.

“2024 is the 5th year of Rural Health Month,” says Rural Doctors Network (RDN) CEO Richard Colbran. “Back in 2019, RDN conceptualised the development of a celebration for rural health and thought ‘why shouldn’t the month of November be the time to celebrate and think positively about all the great attributes of working and living in rural and remote Australia?’ It’s fantastic to see how many organisations are now supporting and celebrating the idea of Rural Health Month, but also the notion of ‘rural positive’.”

This year, RDN’s Rural Health Month activities began with the hosting of the National Rural and Remote Health Awards, at the Press Club in Canberra, by Rural Health Pro, a social enterprise of RDN.

The Awards were inaugurated in 2023 but grew out of RDN’s #RuralPositive campaign of the COVID-19 era, which aimed to express gratitude for the service and dedication of rural health professional - the doctors, nurses, allied health workers and organisations who so often embody the best characteristics of service, compassion, innovation and resilience, whether it be serving and learning in remote Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities, working at the cutting edge of technological innovation for long-distance health care provision, or just ‘being there’ in rural and remote communities, helping to build greater access.

The 2024 finalists were honoured by the attendance of the Governor-General Sam Mostyn at the Awards.

“Healthcare is so much more than just about treatment. It is education, it's prevention and management, it's project planning and execution, it's communication and collaboration, innovation and so much more," the Governor-General said in her address to finalists at the awards night.  "Yours are not just jobs, but vocations of care. Your work is essential to the wellbeing of all Australians and the prosperity and progress of our nation."

Nominations flowed from all around Australia - from Norfolk Island to WA. From New South Wales, the Southern NSW Local Health District, Hunter New England Local Health District, Royal Flying Doctor Service South Eastern Section, and Macksville Medical Centre all had representatives honoured with awards on the evening.

“It’s wonderful for that acknowledgement and recognition for our rural, regional and remote areas,” said Casey Shorter, Practice Manager at Macksville Medical Centre, who won the Rising Star in Rural/Remote Health Award. “It’s a far cry from what is experienced in the city, and it’s nice to have that acknowledgement and understanding from people that don’t quite always experience what we do.” 

Later in November, activities shifted to the Manly Pacific Hotel in Sydney for the Rural Allied Health Conference, Rural GPs Conference, Medical Student Rural Inspiration Conference and Rural Practice Managers Conference amongst other events such as the Rural Medical Service Awards. The presence of 13 veteran doctors attending to receive their 35 years+ long-service awards and mixing with future doctors from the student conference was a poignant highlight.

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Read full article at p. 28 at this link