Health scholarships awarded

Nine Pilbara healthcare workers have received scholarships.

The nine include five registered nurses, a dentist, an occupational therapist, a nurse practitioner and a physiotherapist who have worked in South Hedland, Tom Price, Karratha, Paraburdoo, and Onslow.

Rural Health West has provided 63 scholarships to health professionals working in regional WA.

Rural Health West general manager workforce Kelli Porter said she hoped the scholarships would make healthcare more available for people living in Pilbara communities.

She said access to professional development could be expensive and time-consuming for health workers in the region because most needed to travel to Perth or interstate to access the appropriate training. “These scholarships will provide financial support for these health professionals to access both general and very specific professional development,” she said.

The recipients will take part in training in a range of areas, such as paediatric and adult advanced life support, assessing and treating fussy eaters and assessing motor skills development in children and infants.

“We hope this will help broaden the range of services and programs that people can access close to home and help to keep country communities healthy.

“This is a new initiative by the Australian Government and will mean that we can provide similar grants and scholarships to rural health professionals on a broader scale over the next three years.”