Get to know your College: Tom Smith

Tom Smith, year 3 Parallel Rural Community Curriculum (PRCC) program student, based on Kangaroo Island

“When you’re part of a small community, you feel a greater connection to the people and to the land. With my medical degree, I feel like I will be able to make an enduring, positive contribution to it.”

Tom Smith is a proud Kangaroo Islander: the son of a cray fishing family, he completed his schooling there, only leaving to complete his undergraduate degree in Adelaide and begin working as a radiation therapist in major hospitals in Adelaide, Melbourne and the Gold Coast. The pull back to KI was strong though, and in 2018, Tom decided to take on a new challenge and study medicine, knowing that it could be his ticket back to the island as a rural doctor.

Tom chose Flinders University for the Parallel Rural Community Curriculum (PRCC) program, which provides students with an opportunity to undertake their entire third year in a rural community and, for him, the chance to study on Kangaroo Island.

With the program, students are principally attached to a general practice, but during their rural year, make extensive use of other rural healthcare facilities, including hospitals, community outreach agencies, Aboriginal Medical Services, prisons and health centres within their region. This gives the opportunity to actively participate in the care of patients over the whole year, first-hand longitudinal experience of medical illness, its natural history, diagnosis, management and how it affects the family, workplace and community in which an individual lives. During their rural year, students are involved in the community as a whole, not only working and studying, but playing sport, learning about the region and, in Tom’s case, re-becoming a local.

“I have a deep love and respect for rural people and the way they maintain a sense of community.  The PRCC program provided me with a great chance to give back to my community, work in a diverse environment and come home for a year. It was a great opportunity to re-connect with my home, friends and family. A chance to study on Kangaroo Island is fantastic and I feel I will gain great lessons for my future career.”

Tom believes that working in a rural community provides him with more opportunities to see a variety of case work and provides lots of face-to-face contact with patients. “I feel like I am getting to learn in a more relaxed environment within a fantastic community,” he says. “This experience is providing me with further motivation to pursue my profession in a rural setting once I graduate.”

Tom is based on Kangaroo Island until late 2020 after which he will return to Bedford Park campus to complete his studies.

 

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