What happens inside Barwon Health?

I was lucky enough to spend a week at Barwon Health on Work Experience with a difference.

Places were tight with only 40 Year 10 students from across Geelong being selected for the special program.

We got to find out about a whole lot of things and have a really different learning experience.

We were introduced to a range of employees who have different jobs at Barwon Health including: Physio, Pharmacists, radiographers, nurses, speech pathologist, paramedics, podiatrists, doctors, age care workers.

I really enjoyed midwifery because I was able to see what a real placenta and umbilical cord looked like.

It was surprising to learn that I was actually interested in medical imaging because it wasn’t something I thought I’d be interested in.

I really enjoyed learning about Dave’s story because it was so inspiring about how positive he is even after becoming a paraplegic.

I got to try out wound care in our nursing session.

We spent a lot of time in simulating rooms with fake patients learning about IVs, blood tests etc.

The most challenging thing about the week was hard to try and remember all the things I learned because there was a lot of sessions on all different things within the Health Care and I found it hard to remember a lot of things I was told.

What I really enjoyed about the week was midwifery, meeting new people, learning new things.

I think the qualities you need to work in the Health sector are patience, leadership, making patients feel like you’re not judging them, an understanding of privacy and confidentiality, having good communication skills and overall being friendly to everyone.

One thing I won’t forget about this week is the friends I’ve met, and I won’t forget Lucy from the MacKellar Centre.

Now I think that in the future I think I am going to do the double degree in Ballarat in Nursing and paramedicine.

I recommend this program to next year’s Year 10 students. Put up your hand, give it a go. It’s good to put yourself forward and good for your future!

Acknowledgement: The program was brought to schools in the Geelong Region by Barwon Health and the Geelong Region Local Learning & Employment Network (LLEN). The ‘Careers in Community Services & Health Program’ is funded by Skilling the Bay.