Tamworth residents should be missionaries for the city and tell their metropolitan friends the benefits of going rural, a local educator and GP says.
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Professor Jenny May will do exactly that in a webinar hosted by Rural Health Pro on Thursday evening.
She will join registered nurse Kate Ryan and local Tamworth entrepreneur Sam Treloar to share their experiences of the benefits of living and working in Tamworth to an audience of health professionals.
"I'm really confident that the message we're going to be giving is - come and try a rural community and you won't be disappointed," she said.
"There's no doubt that those of us who choose to live in rural communities know the benefits, enormously. No traffic, being able to do what we want to do, access the things we want to access with minimal difficulty.
"It's really exposing students and - in my case junior doctors and health students - to that reality and let them try it for themselves."
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Mr Treloar said it was vital for locals to "sell the message of Tamworth" to their medical friends and family that the city is a great place to live.
"Everyone can have that conversation with a friend, a mate that's in that space and say come see what it's like."
Dr May, the Director of the University of Newcastle Department of Rural Health, said Tamworth residents should be honest about the disadvantages, but also the benefits of going rural.
She said medical professionals often assume they're losing an opportunity by moving to a smaller medical institution.
But more and more doctors are choosing to go rural for part of their career, she said.
"In the past we've expected medical professionals in particular to outlive us. The mark of a good medical professional is that I have someone from cradle to grave. Those days are gone," she said.
"Really anything more than two to five years in a rural community is great service and that's what we should be aiming at."
Health professionals from Tamworth and the surrounding areas are encouraged to tune in at 7.30pm, either through ruralhealthpro.org or via Rural Health Pro's Facebook, page to ask questions and share their experiences.
Andrew Messenger
Politics, environment and energy journalist at the Northern Daily Leader. I also write about health, bushfires and occasionally music. I'm a Brisbane boy by way of Charleville and Hobart who now lives in in beautiful New England. Get me at andrew.messenger@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Politics, environment and energy journalist at the Northern Daily Leader. I also write about health, bushfires and occasionally music. I'm a Brisbane boy by way of Charleville and Hobart who now lives in in beautiful New England. Get me at andrew.messenger@austcommunitymedia.com.au
