Undergraduate Course Guide Fremantle 2020

34 On the challenging path to becoming a doctor, third year Medicine student Jake Robinson never thought he would find himself on top of the world. Literally. During a four-week Research Training and Medical Elective in Nepal, Jake and four other Notre Dame Medicine students joined interns from Kathmandu’s innovative teaching hospital Patan Hospital, to train together on global health research to improve outreach in the largely rural nation before going out into the communities to provide healthcare, surrounded by the “gobsmacking beauty” of the Himalayas. “The aim of the trip is for students to become more engaged in global health while developing long lasting professional relationships,” says Program Founder and Facilitator, Dr Hilary Wallace. The once-in-a-lifetime experience began on day two when the group trekked to 3,210 metres above sea level. There they saw the sun rise over the seventh highest mountain in the world, Dhaulagiri at 8,167 metres high, is only 700 metres short of Mount Everest, 345km to the south east. From Kathmandu they travelled by 4WD to remote villages in Dhulikhel municipality, a place of spectacular beauty 30km east of the capital on the Kathmandu Valley trekking trail. Working in two rural health camps, Jake and the other students gained a wide variety of experience in fields ranging from general practice and paediatrics to dentistry and pathology. Life on the mountain wasn’t all work and no play. They made time for recreation too, even encouraging physical activity with the local kids, organising and playing a giant game of hacky sack with nearly 50 local kids. “We got amazing insights into the lives of the Nepali people living outside the Kathmandu Valley – especially the challenges they face with health, travel, housing, education and agriculture in the mountainous terrain,” Jake says. He was inspired by a meeting with the top medical minds in Nepal—including the country’s first paediatric surgeon Professor Dr Ramnandan Chaudhary— especially their dedication to improving the health of their people. “This inherent sense of duty, a complete dedication to improving the country and a passion for the health of their people is something that flowed through every conversation with the doctors and nurses we met,” Jake says. “It reminded me that we have our own challenges in large parts of Northern Western Australia and the need for more of us to use our own skills to improve health outcomes in our own backyard.” > Discover more about our Medicine programs on page 69. On top of the world “This inherent sense of duty, a complete dedication to improving the country and a passion for the health of their people is something that flowed through every conversation with the doctors and nurses we met.” MEDICINE