Taygan McDowell
This was my first placement with RAHC. I was unaware of where Ramingining even was. After some research, nerves and lots of excitement I travelled from Hervey Bay, Queensland to East Arnhem Land.
I have previously worked in Indigenous Oral Health, although my visit to a remote community definitely was a fantastic experience that I will always remember. After my cultural training, I was very keen to fly out to Ramo and start working with the children in the community. I had met Kylie Brown, the DA I was to be working with during our orientation and was confident that my placement would be an enjoyable and a challenging experience. My philosophy was that I was not in Ramo for a long time so therefore I wanted to make a difference with the children’s oral health status on a preventative and clinical aspect.
This community consisted of approximately 750 people. The local school had approximately 220 students. Attendance rate was low, although we had no problems acquiring clients. Many times they would come to greet us in the street and be more than happy to have a visit to the health clinic. Especially once word had got around the community.
Accommodation was very comfortable and the local community was very accepting to the dental team. A lot of networking was carried out by myself and Kylie to ensure the local community were aware of our presence and we hoped to gained the trust and respect of the local families. The local community was more than welcoming and I engaged in local events such as concerts, a school fete and performance evenings held by the local dance group. I also experienced spectacular activities on weekends, including hang gliding, eating traditional foods, playing ball and frisbees with the children and meeting the local people. This is will take away as an enlightening personal experience.
Our workload was extensive and complex although professionally highly rewarding. The other health professionals that I dealt with were more than helpful and had long term rapports with the families which assisted our team in providing a high standard of oral health care.
I have gained so much from my new experience both professionally and personally. I will definitely be available to RAHC for another placement within the near future. I encourage all Health Professionals to at least experience a placement and remove yourself from “the norm”, challenge yourself and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
