Did you know that in Australia, once a young person turns 14, their parents can no longer access their Medicare claims history or immunization records? And, by age 15, they can apply for their own Medicare card. For these teens, learning to navigate the healthcare system in Australia can be a complicated undertaking.
The partnership has provided support in this area. The session ‘Introduction to the Australian Healthcare System’ involved CDU students visiting the school to guide Dripstone students through the process of setting up their own myGov accounts. ‘It is such a small thing, but it’s such a large thing in the scope of your own wellbeing,’ Pikoulos says.
Angela Sheedy, Course Coordinator of Health Science in CDU’s Faculty of Health says this myGov initiative has also allowed CDU students to fulfil their placement requirements. ‘This was a great opportunity to get these students to run a project for Dripstone Middle School,’ she says. ‘And we focus that on the Australian healthcare system and actually helping students set up a myGov account. So, giving them some real-world skills.’
A taste of university
Future activities within the partnership will focus on bringing school students to the CDU campus to give them a taste of university life. It’s hoped these initiatives will help ease students’ nerves about attending university.
‘We just want to make sure that the students are gaining their confidence around that and really opening their eyes to what opportunities are out there at our doorstep,’ Pikoulos shares.
Activities will include information sessions, a walkthrough of the library and interactive sessions with 3D printing and an Anatomage Table (for studying anatomy). ‘It’s an amazing piece of equipment. You can spend hours playing around with it,’ Sheedy explains. ‘So, really different interactive things that we’ll be doing with the students when we bring them here.’
Looking ahead to the future
An important element of strong school-community partnerships is ensuring long-term sustainability. With Dripstone Middle School students showing interest in health-related careers, and the Northern Territory needing increased staff in this area, the partnership is certainly symbiotic.
‘What I’m seeing is our students are more engaged in understanding that the learning that they’ve been doing at school in Science and in Maths is linked to … what is ahead of them in the future in these courses. So, they’re already making connections. And so, what these sessions are doing is they’re value-adding to the education that’s already happening here. So, it’s almost a natural link from one to the other,’ Pikoulos shares.
Sheedy agrees. ‘We really want to grow our own here in Darwin,’ she says. ‘We want them to see that they’ve got a really good university here in Darwin … so, just opening that door and bringing them in means they’ve got those connections with us.’
