Date: Wednesday 13 to Saturday 16 September 2006

Venue: Albury Convention and Performing Arts Centre, Swift St, Albury, NSW

• Speech pathologist, lecturer and clinical coordinator Dr Ruth Beecham, on Creating rural speech pathologists in partnership with rural citizens and services. Dr Beecham considers CSU’s speech pathology experience working with professional partnerships in NSW and Victoria. By linking with current health providers and services CSU can offer additional speech pathology services in a professional and supported setting, while also gaining valuable fieldwork opportunities for students. Volunteer programs, working in schools, tutoring by parents of clients and clients themselves, learning exchanges and paediatric screening in pre-schools all involve elements of the local and wider community in educating students. Dr Beecham’s presentation also explains some limitations of these programs, many of which result from the lack of a comprehensive system of regional and rural services. This absence of infrastructure places excessive pressure upon these partnerships to provide services to everyone.
• Acting course coordinator of physiotherapy at CSU, Megan Smith, on Does training physiotherapists in regional settings increase rural recruitment? A desirable outcome with the establishment of the physiotherapy course at CSU’s Albury-Wodonga Campus is that training students, especially those from rural areas, in regional centres should increase the likelihood these students would practice in a rural centre. Since CSU’s first physiotherapists graduated in 2002, 56 per cent of graduates have been employed in small rural centres and regional cities, while 44 per cent are in metropolitan Australia, including Canberra and Wollongong. CSU graduates are found around Australia, including more remote areas of States and territories. The proportion of physiotherapy graduates trained in Sydney or Melbourne and who take up rural employment is not publicised, but CSU’s commitment to rural and regional Australia sees a strong emphasis on rural placements embedded into the students’ program .
• Fieldwork coordinator for the occupational therapy course, Anita Barbara, on Understanding the relationship between rural and remote allied health practitioners and university programs.  Ms Barbara will highlight the growing difficulties for universities, the students and clinics in gaining all-important fieldwork placements for CSU occupational therapy students. Distance, decreasing higher education funding and increasing legal and insurance “red tape” are causing problems for placing students during their courses and who require extensive fieldwork as part of professional requirements to become an occupational therapist. On the positive side however, it is felt many problems could be overcome if placement providers take an active role in organising the placements with universities, directing students’ activities to suit local needs. An example in Warren in central NSW, part of the former Macquarie Area Health Service, has proven very positive.