UNE Foundation Tamworth Scholarship
Alex O’Keefe
Bachelor of Nursing
Gunnedah-based UNE Nursing student and mother-of-three Alex O’Keefe has a lot on her plate.
When it comes to completing the work placements so essential to her education, she must take leave from her part-time job, engage the full support of her husband and distant family, then calculate what locations she can afford.
“I have tended to preference placements that are rural and closer to home to keep expenses down,” Alex says. “But I have wanted to be able to experience other, bigger hospitals, to get a variety of nursing experiences.”
Now she can, thanks to a new UNE Foundation Tamworth Scholarship* designed to assist students living in the Tamworth, Gunnedah and Liverpool Plains local government areas.
Come August, Alex will travel to Sydney for a two-week placement at Prince of Wales Hospital.
“The scholarship is allowing me to get that metro experience, by assisting with the cost of accommodation and travel,” she says. “Staying in student accommodation, alone, will cost close to $2,000, but this gives me the chance to learn in a metropolitan setting, and to bring that knowledge back to rural and regional NSW, without putting that financial burden on my family.”
Alex hopes to eventually add midwifery to her nursing qualifications, but, for now, she’s focused on serving communities like hers.
“There is such a lack of people willing or able to work in towns like mine,” Alex says. “We can’t get doctors to work out here, so nurses are really important. A lot of the time, they are the only ones at our hospitals, and I want to contribute to my community in that way.”
The UNE Foundation Tamworth Scholarship will also help Alex attend compulsory residential schools at UNE’s Armidale campus.
*The UNE Foundation Tamworth Scholarship was developed by stakeholders including the UNE Foundation, Tamworth Regional Council and generous donors keen to support rural and regionally-based students.
