Rural Week, which starts next Monday, will see 16 ANU students coming to experience life in Harden for a week.

The aim of the week is to encourage students to consider practising in rural areas on the completion of their degree, to fill the desperate need for medical practitioners in the country.

The students will undertake a range of activities throughout the week, including a special project called “Community in Context” where different groups will interview sectors of our community and research different health issues.

The students will be focusing on two groups – the unemployed and aged care.

Students will also undertake a series of clinical visits with different health services, which will vary from a tour of the Harden Hospital, Harden Nursing Home, Southern Cross Care Village at Galong, Harden Medical Centres, Flexible Care Services and services provided to the community through the Greater Southern Area Health Services.

They will also visit the Laughing Cow Dairy and the Light Horse and Military Museum.

The generosity of the community has been outstanding, as it has been in the past with the Rotary Club providing a welcoming dinner one night and various members of the community taking students into their homes another night for dinner.

The Harden Shire Council have also given their support to the Rotary Club in providing the welcoming dinner.

Hoping to interact with many of the Harden and Murrumburrah residents the students will be running special Blood Pressure Screenings from the street stall building in Neill Street, from 10am till midday on August 18, and would like as many residents as possible to call in and have their blood pressure taken.

Dr. Jill Bestic from the ANU will be assisting the students.

Following the blood pressure screening the students will be treated to lunch provided by the Hospital Auxiliary ladies.

On Thursday evening the students will report back to the community by way of their C.I.C presentations.

Rural Week is a great introduction to medicine in a rural community, especially for the many students who have never really been to the country.

This will give the students the experience of living in the country and hopefully more doctors will decide to come back and base themselves in rural communities after they complete their degrees.