Future nurses: First- and second-year Notre Dame VET nursing students.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
A unique collaboration between Notre Dame College, La Trobe University and Goulburn Valley Health has students laying down the foundations to their future healthcare careers through Vocational Education Training.
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Notre Dame College offers over 10 VET programs on-site, providing students with opportunities in a multitude of pathways in preparation for life after school.
However, it lacks the facilities to support health services at the college. Combined with an incredible skills shortage in the health industry and the answer to everyone’s problems inaugurated a local partnership the region has never seen before.
VET learning area convener Diana Millsteed said the opportunity for a VET health program had opened a lot of doors for Notre Dame students.
“(The program) is really focused on local students in our local community being supported by local education providers such as La Trobe, where the initial partnership came,” she said.
“It moves away from the traditional classroom learning ... the students are also consolidating and building an understanding through professional and personal stories and experiences of my career in health.”
This year marked a successful first-year cohort of the nursing program, and many more students have expressed interest in applying for 2023.
La Trobe was proud of how the Notre Dame students thrived in a university environment, and believed the additional partnership with GV Health would really round out the experience.
GV Health director of nursing and midwifery education Cathy Scott is excited for the students to continue their educational journey and support hospitals during what has been a significantly difficult period in the healthcare industry.
“We’d like to provide students with clinical placement and we’ve expanded our areas of where they can go, so they can get a better picture of how the hospital operates,” she said.
“There’ll be an increase in clinical placement and certainly encouragement to follow the healthcare pathways that we have available here.”
Notre Dame students Annabelle Ackland and Zoe Barbary are excited to commence placement, but for now they both agree that Wednesday’s VET health training at La Trobe is the best day of the week.
“At La Trobe we get hands-on learning that will really help us in future studies, and being in a uni environment already gives us a brief understanding of what our further education would be like,” Annabelle said.
“I want to do a double degree in nursing and para-medicine, and I feel like I’ve already learnt a lot that could help me later on in the future.”
As for Zoe, she’s thinking about a career in allied health.
“Whether it’s theory or upstairs in the lab, we’ve learnt about many different situations we may come across in the health environment: different emergencies, how to provide duty of care, all varieties of the medical industry ... I’m curious on exploring all my career possibilities,” Zoe said.
A picture of health: Notre Dame Year 12 students Zoe Barbary and Annabelle Ackland are in their second year of the VET nursing program.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
Ms Millsteed is proud to see the growth and maturity of her students as the program progresses, and is excited to further expand the success of the VET nursing program.
“In the future, we’re looking at opening enrolments to other schools and broadening the project,” she said.
“This is an exciting time for the Shepparton region, it’s only going to continue to grow and I’m super excited to be a part of it.”
