RDN Cadet Weekend Trip visits Dubbo and Orange

RDN Cadets outside Orange Hospital

Over the weekend, almost 40 RDN Rural Medical Cadets visited the beautiful central west NSW towns of Dubbo and Orange for the second RDN Cadet Weekend Trip for 2025. The three-day Cadet Trip is designed to support rural doctors of tomorrow by bringing Cadets together for social and educational weekends away, exploring country New South Wales.

These journeys serve as an important opportunity for students to see first-hand the opportunities of the region, and all were impressed by the welcoming communities they encountered, as well as the opportunity to network with current Cadets, Cadet alumni, and potential future colleagues.

The Cadets belong to the Rural Resident Medical Officer Cadetship and Indigenous Cadetship program, run by RDN on behalf of the NSW Ministry of Health. The program financially supports medical students who are interested in undertaking a career in rural health in NSW, and who agree to undertake the two of the first three years of their hospital training in an eligible rural NSW hospital. Rural service can be undertaken in major NSW hospitals west of the Great Dividing Range including Tamworth, Dubbo, Orange, Wagga Wagga, Broken Hill and Albury.

The weekend began in Dubbo where Cadets gathered at Dubbo Hospital to connect with executives, consultants and Junior Medical Officers (JMO) from the hospital in an open forum designed to facilitate Q&As for these future doctors. Topics spanned from life as a junior doctor, support systems, opportunities as an intern and, importantly, the social and cultural aspects of living in a country town.

A panel of local Rural Generalists and General Practitioners in Dubbo was a resounding highlight for the Cadets, giving them a glimpse beyond their return of service years and into their future careers and potential specialties.

A dinner at Devil’s Hollow in Dubbo brought the group together with local Cadets for a relaxed night of networking before they were up bright and early for a quintessential medical student trip highlight—a park run at Sandy Beach Park.

For the second part of the trip, Orange Hospital welcomed Cadets to showcase their facilities and host a panel with their own JMOs, once again opening the floor for Cadets to ask all their burning questions about what their return of service might look like in the region.

Cadet Elody Huelmo, med student at the University of New England, enjoyed the hospitality of both towns. “I thoroughly enjoyed the Dubbo and Orange RDN Cadet trip. The central west has a lot to offer. I felt welcomed both inside and outside of the hospitals with obvious strong communities at both sites. The RDN trips are always well organised with good company!”

RDN’s Future Workforce Manager Chris Russell thanked the communities for making the trip such a meaningful and valuable experience for the Cadets.

“We are very grateful for the support of the Local Health Districts, hospital staff, clinicians and organisations such as the Regional Training Hubs who made the Cadets feel very welcome and are all heavily involved in promoting their regions."

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Related reading:

• NSW Riverina welcomes RDN Cadets for first Cadet Weekend Trip of 2025
• Former RDN Cadet sends a strong message to those considering a career in rural health
• RDN unveils alumni program to celebrate 35 years of the Rural Resident Medical Officer Cadetship