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Innovative rural placement programs and their unique cultural immersion components for Allied Health students in Mid West WA impressed judges in Geraldton.  The WA Centre for Rural Health (WACRH) picked up the final accolade under the ‘Not for Profit’ category during this year’s Mid West Business Excellence Awards.

The Award nomination highlighted the Centre’s efforts to engage undergraduate health students in a number of activities and experiences to help them become rural-work ready.  WACRH’s non-traditional placement models are supported through inter-professional learning activities where students from various disciplines work closely together to deliver integrated patient care while addressing health care gaps in the community.

WACRH Director, Dr Sandra Thompson, said the Centre’s current education programs were a direct demonstration of strong team dynamics and a passion for making a positive difference in rural health.

“The challenge has been to design programs that are relevant and valuable to both our students and the communities we serve – our education team has worked (and continues to work) extremely hard to push the boundaries and create a set of unique experiences for the future rural health workforce.  This Award is a credit to their lateral thinking, creativity and commitment to ongoing development and refinement. It also shows how much these programs and the service learning model espoused by WACRH is valued by our local community.”

The Award also celebrated a number of other programs delivered through the Centre, namely the Health Student Academy which exposes high school students to the breadth of possible health career options, and local health workforce support activities provided though simulated learning strategies.