Celebration of health-care education in Armidale
Monday, August 11th, 2008
A dinner and ball in Armidale this Friday evening will celebrate the education of rural health professionals at the University of New England.
Everyone is welcome to the event on Friday 15 August, at which Richard Torbay, Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Member for Northern Tablelands, will be one of the guest speakers.
The Health Ball is the first major event to be organised by the New England Rural Club for Health Alliance (NERCHA), formed last year by students of nursing and other health-related disciplines at the University of New England.
One aspect of the celebration will be the integration into the Alliance of medical students from the newly-formed School of Rural Medicine at UNE. The guest speakers will also include Professor John Fraser, Head of the School of Rural Medicine, Jan Brown, Course Coordinator for Nursing at UNE, and Dr Yoni Luxford, a UNE Senior Lecturer in Nursing.
The co-Chairs of NERCHA, third-year nursing students Ruth Irwin and Allese Tansley, said they hoped the event would raise community awareness of the Alliance itself, and of the necessity to retain rural-trained health professionals in rural practice.
Ms Irwin said that new NERCHA office-bearers would be announced on the night – including a first-year medical student and a first-year nursing student. There will also be announcements about the Alliance’s planned activities – such as school visits – within the community, aimed at bringing more attention to issues of rural health.
The event will be at Armidale’s Wicklow Hotel, starting at 7 pm with arrivals at 6.30 pm. Tickets ($25 each) can be bought at the UNE Post Office.
For more information phone Allese Tansley on 0400 308 117 or Ruth Irwin on 0413 202 728.