The hospital will host five interns for 2021, as well as others rotating through from metropolitan hospitals.
Moama’s Ben Carmody is one of the five getting straight to work – pulling on the operating theatre scrubs last week.
The 25-year-old has spent the last six years studying at the University of Melbourne.
“It was always an attractive option to come home, be closer to family and spend more time with the community I grew up in,” he said.
“I’ve been told Echuca hospital gives you great opportunities to get hands on and involved in patient care from day one – an opportunity you might not necessarily get in some of the bigger hospitals.
“I’m enjoying the surgical rotation which I’m starting off in but I’m looking forward to trying out all the areas and finding out what really interests me for future work.
“Regardless of whatever speciality I end up in, I’m pretty certain a bit of that will be some rural practice, but I’ll see where it takes me.”
While intern Mollie Flood has never been to Echuca before, she’s all too familiar with small town life, hailing from Meredith, north of Geelong.
Ms Flood studied medicine at Deakin Geelong, making the switch from a career in psychology.
“I’ve always just been interested in helping people and it seems like a career where you can belong to the community you’re in,” she said.
“Because I’m from a rural background I’ve always wanted to go rural and Echuca seemed to have everything I was looking for.
“I want to be a rural generalist and I also really like obstetrics and paediatrics too.”
Out of all the different rotations she’ll try her hand at, Ms Flood’s most looking forward to general practice.
“I like being able to connect with patients; having them come back again and see how they’re going. It’s good to be able to get to know them as people as well as patients.”
ERH director of clinical training Kate Schultz said they had 180 applicants vying for one of the five spots.
“This is our sixth year of having our own Echuca interns, but we’ve been teaching junior medical staff for over 30 years at Echuca hospital,” she said.
“Each year our applicants get stronger and stronger, and the people who come to Echuca want this training and that’s awesome.
“We have 100 per cent success rate in getting to their general registration.
“They’re also awesome people. Along with looking at how skilled they are, we choose the ones that are already caring, so we don’t have to teach them that.”
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