News Release:
Scholarships help dedicated nursing students
| Date 1/12/03 No 218/03 Seven students of nursing at the University of New England, including one who was in intensive care herself when she heard she had got Distinctions in her first exams, have been awarded government scholarships to pursue their studies. Melanie Press suffered severe internal injuries when kicked by a horse after sitting for her first-semester exams. Persevering with her part-time studies despite ongoing health problems, she continued to achieve fine results. By the end of last year, however, she had decided that she would have to give up her nursing studies because of the pressure of working, studying, and bringing up two small boys. Then came a decisive experience: she came across a car accident, was able to help the elderly victims, and realised that she really did want the nursing degree. After working at two jobs and saving money all last summer, she enrolled full-time at UNE in 2003, and plans to complete her Bachelor of Nursing degree next year with the help of the scholarship. She has ambitions to proceed to postgraduate study (a Master's in gerontology and then a PhD), and says she intends to continue at UNE. "The support has been so great at UNE that I would much prefer to stay here to complete postgraduate studies," she said.
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The scholarships, funded by the NSW Department of Health and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, and administered by the Royal College of Nursing Australia, are for undergraduate nursing students who come from remote or rural areas and who want to study aged care. They are designed to address the shortage of Registered Nurses in rural Australia. The other UNE scholarship winners are Joanna Bridges and Ruth Phillips (Bachelor of Nursing Studies), and Sue Vile, Rosemary Porter, Angela Dean and Susan Beattie (Bachelor of Nursing). Each scholarship is worth $10,000 a year, so to Sue Vile, who will not begin her three-year Bachelor of Nursing program till 2004, the value is $30,000. UNE's Bachelor of Nursing Studies program is a four-year external course that enables Enrolled Nurses to qualify as Registered Nurses. Joanna Bridges from Barraba, who will be going into her second year in 2004, sees her scholarship as a positive step for her town as a whole. "I was born in Barraba and work here as an Enrolled Nurse," she said. "When I have completed my degree I intend to work as a Registered Nurse at the new multi-purpose service that caters for all of the town's health needs. It has been my life-long dream to become a Registered Nurse." Media contact: Jan Brown, School of Health, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 3643 or 0417 280 453, or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 3049. |
