Dr Belinda Stallard - 2013 graduate
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2013 graduate Dr Belinda Stallard tells why she's committed to rural medicine.
Life isn’t meant to be easy… so said George Bernard Shaw; or fair. But in the hands of doctors doing good, there is hope for improvement.
That philosophy is central to James Cook University 2013 graduate and AMA Queensland Foundation bursary holder, Dr Belinda Stallard’s core beliefs.
Rural placements in Thursday Island, Cooktown and Palm Island have provided the 22-year-old from Maryborough with interesting, challenging and confronting experiences.
Like the 11-year-old boy from Papua New Guinea, admitted to Thursday Island Hospital with polyarthritis: doctors suspected his slow response to treatment was due to other factors, prompting further investigation. “His HIV status was finally confirmed after spending three weeks in hospital. At this early stage in my medical career, seeing a young boy with HIV was confronting,” says Belinda, who has also revelled in the exposure to different health conditions and cultures.
“After my two months in Cooktown, spending time in the hospital and with the local GP and visiting the outer communities of Wujal Wujal and Hopevale, I really felt a part of the community and hope to visit in the future.”