My Rural Story

Allegra Boccabella

My name is Allegra Boccabella and I’m a third year medical student at Bond University in Queensland. My remote experience started in 2012. I was on a gap year and I can’t really remember why I decided to do it, but I wanted to experience something different. So, we had a family friend who was an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon who did specialist outreach in Cape York in Queensland. So, I asked him if I could come along for a trip and he said yes and I’d be coming along as the Audiological Assistant. So, I did that for a week and I absolutely loved it, it was great and I managed to convince him to let me go again. It’s been four years now and I’ve managed to go back six times into a whole

bunch of different communities. I’ve been to Arukun, Pormpuraaw, Kowanyama, Lockhart River and Napranum. Basically the setup is that we have the Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon, the Practice Manager, the Audiologist and the Audiological Assistant, which is me, that goes up in the group. We basically fly into Cairns the night before the clinics start, and on the morning of the first clinic we get up nice and early and fly in a little plane from Cairns Airport to the first community. At the end of the first clinic, which is at the end of the first day, we fly back to Weipa, which is a remote centre, and we stay there overnight.

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