| Australian Dental Association study grants awarded to Griffith students - 21/01/2006 - 06:00 |
| Click here for more information... |
Two Griffith students are amongst the first dentistry students nationwide to receive the Australian Dental Association''s (ADA) inaugural rural and remote study grants.
Four ADA grants have been awarded to encourage students from rural and remote areas into the profession.
Chief Executive Officer of the ADA Mr Robert Boyd-Boland said there was a chronic maldistribution of dentists across the country.
"The dental profession is very concerned at the great shortage of dental practitioners in rural and remote areas."
"Research suggests that students recruited from those areas are more likely to return there for their professional career. We are trying to encourage and assist students from those areas fill the need that exists," he said.
President of the ADA Dr Bill O''Reilly will present first year student David Furney and second year student Timothy Long with their $5,000 cheques at Conrad Jupiters on the Gold Coast on Thursday, 1 June at 7.30pm.
Mr Furney, from Mudgee in New South Wales, has relocated his young family to the Gold Coast in order to study dentistry after 13 years working in his family''s successful engineering business.
His interest in dentistry was prompted when the business started manufacturing equine dentistry tools.
"I’m a hands-on type person and I realised I had a lot more to offer the community in dentistry."
He said he was acutely aware of the workforce crisis. Mudgee, with a population of about 18,000 people, is serviced by only three dentists and at least one of those is approaching retirement in the next few years.
"I was born and raised in the country and plan to go back when I have done my training and gained enough experience."
A full fee paying student and the father of two small children, Mr Furney said he was delighted to receive the financial support from the ADA.
Mr Long, from a property near Corryong in north-east Victoria, came to Griffith straight out of high school.
"For some reason I have been interested in dentistry since I was eight years old," he said.
"One of the attractions for me is that you get to go to work and help people but at the end of the day you can’t take your work home."
His father is a solicitor and his mother is a teacher, but both chose to commute daily so family life could be centred on their 350 acre property.
Mr Long said the 50km round bus trip to school each day for eight years and then boarding school for his final school years was just a necessary part of country life.
While it is still early days, Mr Long said he was interested in specialising in orthodontics and envisaged working in a regional town such as Albury-Wodonga.
"I guess there are no guarantees but there is definitely a draw back to the country for me."
"This support from ADA will ease some of the financial stress so I can concentrate on my studies."
|
