RHAANZ delighted by 2013 Pat Farry trust scholarship awards

PRESS RELEASE, November 8, 2013, for immediate use

RHAANZ delighted by 2013 Pat Farry trust scholarship awards

The Rural Health Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (RHAANZ) is delighted that the 2013 Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to two worthy recipients with interesting careers in rural health ahead of them.

The work they will be able to do when they reach their full potential as health professionals will certainly be enhanced by the opportunities they have to travel and experience health systems in other rural areas around the world, says RHAANZ chairman Dr Jo Scott-Jones.

“We need providers who are well rounded and experienced, who are able to work expertly across a range of conditions and this sort of experience is invaluable in developing this.”

This week the trust announced that David Neynens from Glenorchy and Rebecca Craw from Tauranga will both receive NZ$5000 to assist their elective travel in the first term of 2014.
The recipients of 2013 travelling scholarship, both of who are University of Otago School of Medicine students, will travel to India, Nepal, Gibraltar and The Falkland Islands to further their rural health education.
Scholarships offered by the trust assist young people to spend valuable time in innovative and challenging overseas situations, to return, and to become the new generation of idea generators in New Zealand.

The annual travelling scholarship awards up to $10,000, which may be divided between two recipients, to students of the University of Otago School of Medicine to travel internationally to a rural situation to observe new concepts, develop their own skills and share their learning with other students when they return.

The biennial Pat Farry trust scholarship awards $20,000 to a rural health care professional in the early stages of their career to travel abroad and gain skills that could improve rural health, both in their own rural community and hopefully New Zealand's rural communities in general.

While the Pat Farry trust scholarship was offered in 2011, there were no suitable applications. The trust is hopeful of receiving an outstanding application that will see the 2014 recipient become the first to receive that scholarship. Applications close on January 31, 2014 and the recipient will be announced at the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network annual conference in Wellington March 12-16, 2014.

General Practitioner Dr Pat Farry was a tireless advocate and champion of rural health before he passed away in 2009. He devoted much of his career to advocating and lobbying for improvements and funding for rural medicine as well as mentoring and teaching rural healthcare professionals.

Background information on the Pat Farry trust scholarships

The Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust was established in March 2010 to support the sustainability and quality of health services to rural communities. One of the ways in which the trust does this is by providing scholarships for undergraduate medical students and young rural health professionals.
The trust’s scholarship and grant programme benefits recipients and supports rural health learning centres all around New Zealand. Since 2011, the trust has awarded twelve scholarships and grants. Recipients to date have come from Thames, Waihi Beach, Tauranga, Ngatea, Matamata, Paraparaumu, Timaru, Clinton, Glenorchy, Christchurch and Auckland before studying at the University of Otago School of Medicine campuses in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington or on RMIP (Rural Medical Immersion Programme) placement in Dannevirke, Blenheim, Greymouth, Queenstown, Balclutha and Masterton.

Earlier this year, 2012 travelling scholarship recipient Kerry Short travelled to the Chitwan district of Nepal where she joined a travelling rural clinic based programme called "Hope and Home Nepal" before travelling to Katete, eastern Zambia for a six week placement at the St Francis Hospital and a four day placement with the Flying Medical Service in Arusha, Tanzania.

A second 2012 recipient, Nicola Shaw, travelled to Ecuador to join the Cinterandes Foundation mobile surgical bus service for five weeks before also traveling to St Francis Hospital in Katete, Zambia.

ENDS

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