Roma

Cristal Newman: Welcome to Roma Hospital.

Rhiannon Barnes: What brought you to the southwest?

Cristal Newman: I was really looking for an opportunity, I guess, to do something different. Expand my skills. It's given me so many opportunities just to learn different things. I've been able to do a research project out here, gain lots of skills in food service management as well. So implementing a HHS wide menu and it's just a really nice place to bring up children. So I've got young kids. They really love it out here too. So nine years now I've been here, didn't plan to come for that long, but I just love living here.

Associated Professor Geoff Argus: Well, Rome the largest centre in the southwest catchment and the new hospital, which is only a couple of years old, is state of the art. It's certainly one of the newest hospitals in Queensland and I think it's a real draw card for health professionals and students when they're working in Roma and across the southwest.

RIPPAH students: I think I did think Roma was gonna be a lot smaller than it is because like Roma is quite a big town.
My dad had actually lived here before and he said, I think you're gonna love it out there. And I went, oh Ted, I dunno, I'm too far away from the water. So I'm on the Gold Coast and I have lived by the water and swam in the water every day and I thought it would be a real challenge. But to be honest, it's been really quite good. I haven't felt that I've needed that at all. Also, our student accommodation where we've lived with the students and that student accommodation, I must say, is fantastic as well.

Associated Professor Geoff Argus: So what we hear from students who are accommodated in the, in the hospital, student accommodation precinct, have access to the country university centre that Roma is really the place to be when they're on rural placement.

RIPPAH students: I think if it was shorter, like you don't get that experience. You don't get to learn what it's like to live out here and be like, you know, would I be willing to come live out here? And you know, like Cristal's done, you know, make it a permanent. You don't want to move to a rural community and only do it for a short period of time, because I think that's hard on the community and the health system as well. You want to see whether or not you'd be willing to move here for a very long period of time.

You've really helped us to completely be immersed in the environment, in the community. And that's what I think makes it different. And the fact that we have been here for those 15 weeks, I do feel like I am part of the community anyway, you know? So Thank you. We would've been able to do it without you guys, so thanks for that opportunity.

Cristal Newman: So for students coming to the Southwest, I think it's a really great opportunity to build skills, you know, see a really wide variety of clinical caseload and that might help you, I guess, understand which areas you might want to go into in the future or hopefully develop the passion for rural healthcare.