'Boots to Scrubs' program driven by Bombala's own Chloe Campbell

Once not thinking that becoming a doctor was possible for herself, Chloe has now become the driving force behind a new program 'Boots to Scrubs'.

The program was designed to help rural women like herself pursue a career as a doctor, who may not have had anyone to help them navigate the process.

Boots to Scrubs offers a $7500 scholarship for first year rural female medical students to ease the stress and cost of university set-fees.

Not only does the program offer assistance for the monetary component, but scholarship recipients are also connected with a mentor within the profession to provide help in building connections and to get experienced advice off professionals within the industry.

Stil in its first year, the program is in the throes of fundraising, but with an aim to have a minimum of three scholarships available next year, with the first scholarships awarded in February 2024, once all students have been accepted into and started their degrees.

With just a few outings and communications with prospective recipients, the program has a had great feedback around the gap it is filling.

Georgia Goodhew, from Narrabri, who has come through a similar path to Chloe, has also shared her insights in pursuing a career in medicine and the hurdles involved when starting in the bush. She is spearheading the marketing of the Boots to Scrubs program, and is now thinking of becoming a surgeon.

For Chloe, growing up in the rural town of Mila, near Bombala, school was always a bit of a struggle in larger classrooms due to her dyslexia.

But after leaving school and always having a strong interest in science, while knowing that she had a love for health care, she applied to Charles Sturt University for a nursing degree.

It was two years into her degree when doing placement in Canberra, while doing rounds with the anaesthetic team, that she had a doctor tap her on the shoulder.

"Hey have you thought about medicine, I've noticed you've been really keen into the pathophysiology of things, really interested in the patient journey and like how we're treating them and the different diseases," the doctor said.

That was enough to plant the seed for Chloe.

She began looking into the University Clinical Aptitude Test and Graduate Medical School Admissions Test, along with the different universities and what they offered.

Chloe knew she didn't want to go to Sydney or Melbourne to study, so decided to get into a medicine degree through a rural pathway.

"I want to stay in the country and I want to learn in the country," she said.

While studying her nursing degree through CSU, she had known about the new medical degree that the university was starting up.

In her final year of nursing, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chloe found herself able to stay home and study, putting all her time and energy into getting the UCAT score needed and was lucky to get into medicine first time round.

She is now among a cohort of 37 rural students in their first year.

"It's amazing. Everyone has a passion for rural health, everyone wants to go into really diverse areas, specialists which we need, GPs and rural generalists that we need." Chloe said.

After becoming involved in the Australian Medical Students Association, she appointed the advocacy role for the gender equality committee and had the opportunity to work on a project within the medical industry.

This gave Chloe the time to reflect on her own pathway into the medical degree and how she could help other young women in rural areas, like herself, get into the medical profession easier and help guide them through the process.

This is where the idea for Boots to Scrubs arose.

While there is much hype around medicine as a degree and profession, Chloe says many of her peers have started in one degree, gotten the marks and then changed to medicine.

"There's such a stigma around the course saying that you have to be a brainiac to do it," she said, "but the best doctors are the ones that actually know their communities really well, know the importance of holistic healthcare and have a passion for it."

Chloe had thought of pursuing rural generalism, after having spent time with some rural generalists and may pursue this direction with her advanced training years in either emergency medicine or obstetrics and gynaecology. She is completing her study all while still working as a nurse.

This has come about from spending time in remote areas of Western NSW, where health professionals are few and far between, with the shortages putting pressure on community members and their religious beliefs, as well as cultural considerations.

"Its definitely a little bit of a whirlwind. Every time I think I have a lot going on, I just remember the feeling of opening the email for my acceptance. I just remember that feeling because I never knew that day would come."