Lexie Campbell grew up on the outskirts of Warren on the family farm, and while she loved many things as a youngster, becoming a doctor was not on her list of what she might be when she grew up.

Fast forward to 2023 and she is now in her 5th year of her six-year medical degree at the University of NSW and says watching her Grandmother struggle for medical care created a desire in her to step up and make a difference in helping rural people.

“Even though my mum Alison is a nurse, I never really pictured myself as a doctor. Following School, I joined the Navy for a year, but watching my grandmother having to make medical trips to Sydney and other regional centres two or more hours away I couldn’t help but see things needed to change for rural people and decided my way of helping would be to study medicine,” said Ms. Campbell.

“I was really questioning how many other people in small communities were affected by such limited resources and treatment options and decided I wanted to be part of the solution by training to become a doctor and return to rural areas to make a change.”

To that end, Lexie applied and was successful in gaining a Rural Resident Medical Officer Cadetship which provides funding for her final two years of medical degree, a relocation grant for when she moves to a rural location, as well as supported attendance at conferences and cadetship weekends.

The cadetship is offered by Rural Doctors Network (RDN) under NSW Ministry of Health. The students who benefit also agree to undertake two of the first three years of their hospital training in an eligible rural NSW hospital. 

“The Cadetship is essentially a scholarship which runs across medical schools to support students in the final two years of their degree,” explains Lexie.

“In return they spend their first two years as junior doctors in one of the regional centres in NSW (currently Dubbo, Tamworth, Orange, Wagga or Albury are options). It is essentially to encourage, support and persuade those who are interested in practicing rurally, which is most definitely me,” she said. 

Lexie with Associate Professor John Kramer - Woolgoolga GP and member of the board of Directors of the NSW Rural Doctor Network

“I attended a Cadetship Weekend in Tamworth earlier this year, and it was a huge motivator for me,” said Lexie. “Connecting and meeting like-minded people who share a passion for rural medicine, helped me to realise and confirm I was on the right track.”

“Aside from the very helpful financial side, they help cadets attend various educational and networking events including GP conferences and the annual cadet weekend. This allows us to hear from Country doctors (junior and senior, subspecialists and general practitioners) who work in various NSW regions which we may end up in.”

“It also helps to meet your peers who you’ll likely be working with in the years to come. I have found these weekends outstandingly helpful as both motivation for finishing what I find to be a very difficult degree and to help me picture what kind of work I would like to be doing when I am fully qualified,” said Lexie.

In the last few months Lexie has been doing placements in Manilla, Coffs Harbour and Woolgoolga, working with rural and regional GPs and giving her a true sense of what working in a rural environment will be moving forward.

“I have ended the year with four weeks in Manilla, NSW - I’ve confused many of my Sydney friends who thought I was heading to the Philippines,” laughs Lexie. “It was fantastic.”

“My supervisor there, Dr. Emma Moffatt owned the GP practise and split her time between that, hospital work and helping train the net generation of GP registrars ( all while being a mum). I thought that was pretty amazing and whilst I don’t think anything’s ever set-in stone, it’s certainly the kind of work I see myself doing in the future.”

“I think Dr. Moffatt had an enormous ability to help her small community and she clearly had so much care for the patients.”

Lexie is excited for her future and is thankful for growing up as a country kid and the values it taught her.

“I think growing up where I did, had an enormous positive influence on me and continues to even when I am far away for study.”

“Hospitals are obviously an awful place to end up and some of my best memories as a student are coming across patients from Western NSW and other country areas who light up with relief when they find out I am from Warren while their consulting doctor scratches their head and asks the team ‘Have you heard of any of these places?’,” she laughs.

“I think country people have a great connection to where they are from, which is often put under great strain when they are sick, like my grandmother. It’s nice to be able to play a small part in bringing home to them while they are getting care in places like Coffs Harbour where I am based.”

“But in the future, I’d like to bring the care back home to them as much as one person can and make a difference to those I can help in rural areas.”