Is there a better feeling than vindication?
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Back when John Howard was in his last term as Prime Minister in 2006 amid a shortage of doctors in rural and regional areas, Deakin University launched a campaign for approval to become the third Victorian university to offer a medical degree.
The thinking was based on research that doctors who trained in the regions were more likely to return or work in the country.
Deakin's campaign was based on medical students starting in Geelong and then include two years at Warrnambool and in a partnership with South West Healthcare and the region's medical clinic, they would receive invaluable hands-on, supervised experience.
The Standard and the community played a significant role in pushing Deakin's case.
In 2008 new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened Deakin's medical school in Geelong, the first of its kind in 40 years in Victoria, joining Melbourne and Monash universities.
The opening also ushered in a new era for the Warrnambool campus.
Fast-forward 15 years and Deakin and South West Healthcare are expanding the program with students now able to complete all four years at the Warrnambool campus.
The program not only boosts the Warrnambool campus, which faced dark times in 2016, but gives the region's health industry a much-needed filip.
Attracting GPs and medical specialists to the region has never been harder, especially given the workload our existing doctors carry. But with students studying here for four years, the chance of them staying on is increased.
Terang knows the importance of Deakin's Warrnambool medical school. Back in 2021 we celebrated three doctors who graduated from the program who were working in a Terang clinic. The proof is in the pudding.
Deakin's announcement of the expanded program is great news for the region but also vindication for those who campaigned so long and hard to establish the medical school. Those people, including the then Dean of the Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences Professor John Catford and Deakin's pro vice-chancellor for rural and regional Warrnambool's Rob Wallis had a vision and left no stone unturned in their quest. The benefits of the school and its graduates cannot be underestimated. The extended medical school program in Warrnambool needs to be celebrated and spruiked from the rooftops. It's a game-changer, dare we say a life-changer for years ahead.