"Since 2005 I have made an annual trip to Walgett to work for one month with WAMS in their two well appointed and fully equipped dental surgeries.
The WAMS dental team includes a receptionist and two dental assistants. The work is broad in scope and very different to day to day dentistry in an urban practice. WAMS is run by indigenous and non-indigenous staff for indigenous and non-indigenous patients. Most work is crisis related due to poor diet, an excess of cariogenic food and acidulated ‘soft’ drink. Current prevention strategies include a well established program of healthy breakfasts for children followed by supervised teeth cleaning or ‘brush ins’ at the local school. There is no other dental facility in the town and Walgett is not yet flouridated.
WAMS hopes for a full time dentist but presently offers opportunities for short term and ‘sabbatical’ clinicians. For dentists looking to extend their professional experience, to live in a rural or remote location or to contribute to improvements in indigenous health, WAMS offers a unique opportunity.
For our stay, my wife and I are provided with comfortable and attractive accommodation – a spacious, furnished and well equipped house – and a car for our use. We enjoy our time in Walgett and always look forward to returning."
Rick Smyth
B.D.S. (Sydney University)
"As a 26 year old Irish Dentist I decided to take a year out from the
rat race and spend 12 months on a working holiday visa in Australia."
While I enjoy the sites and nightlife of Sydney it was somewhat
hard to come across regular employment which is basically the
same type of work as back in the UK. I was looking for an alternative
and was lucky to fi nd it in the outback of NSW in the picturesque
town of Walgett.
I spent two months (June and July of 2006) working within the
Aboriginal Medical service. They have an excellent, modern up to date
two surgery Dental clinic attached the medical block. I was somewhat
surprised to the standard of equipment and materials available. The
support staff were immensely helpful, friendly and courteous, nearly
all of whom were from the local aboriginal community.
The patients came from various backgrounds in and around the surrounding districts some coming from nearly 200Kms away. The
need for treatment was consistently high varying from restorative
composites/amalgams to serial extractions and dentures. There is a
lot of attrition/erosion in the area due to high consumption of fizzy
drinks and citrus fruits, many patients needing composite build ups
or over-dentures. As a sole practitioner I found I quickly became
proficient in extractions some of which needed surgical invention. It
allowed me to develop and improve these various skills.
Walgett itself has a good sense of community and I was often
greeted by patients while doing my grocery shopping. I was also
asked to a birthday party and met many people I had treated a few
days previously. The nightlife is a little quiet but I was always asked
/ heavily persuaded to any of the social functions. A pub quiz in aid
of the local primary school was an excellent and fun way to catch
up with the rest of the locals, and the “Sporto club” on a Friday night
was a good place to sip on a beer and watch the footy!!
The free accommodation was a well equipped three bedroom house
that would look good in any large town, and the use of a company
car meant I got to travel quite a bit and see the surrounding outback
towns. I got to visit The Opal mining town of Lightening ridge, the
cotton production in Narromine, the open plain zoo in Dubbo, and
there is some excellent hiking in the Warrumbungle national park
which I went to on a few visits.
All in all it was an excellent experience and the Aussie folks in outback
NSW will certainly make you feel welcome and encourage you to stay
longer, if the opportunity arrises it’s a must to.
If you are interested in having an experience like this in australia
contact Australian Dentist Job Search.
Mark McAfee B.D.S (Queens University Belfast, graduated in 2003)
The School of Medicine received recognition by the LIME (Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education) Network at the annual conference in New Zealand last week. Jenny Akers and I proudly accepted the award in the category of “Leading Innovation in Community Engagement” for the Year 5 Indigenous Health attachment on behalf of the School of Medicine and our AMS’s Community partners.
This program would not have developed without the advice, support, encouragement and commitment from our AMS’s Community partners and staff during the year. Through our time travelling around NSW visiting your service, establishing and developing our relationship with you and your community, has allowed us to develop a program that will enrich our student’s medical education, now and into the future, as they learn about, and continue to contribute to the work for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and the communities they serve.
Cris Carriage
(Indigenous Program Officer,
University of Western Sydney)
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