Placement site information
Goroke
A small pastoral town in the Wimmera, 365 km north-west of Melbourne, Goroke takes its name from the local Aboriginal word for the magpie.
The records suggest that some of the first settlers thought the country too dry even for magpies, but the hardiest stuck it out and 200 people still live in the town servicing regional wheat, barley and sheep farmers.
Consult the locals for the lowdown on where the cod are biting in nearby lakes and which waterholes are giving up yabbies.
Goroke is close to Mt Arapiles-Tooan State Park. A sandstone peak, Mt Arapiles is a challenge for serious, international rock climbers, while the inexperienced can enjoy the views from the summit by taking the steep but less challenging routes. The park conserves 500 species of native plants, including the rare rock wattle and skeleton fern.
Lake Charlegrark, 22 km west along the road to Bordertown, is a popular aqua-playground which rewards the patient fisherman with catches of Murray cod, redfin and yabbies. The shores of the lake host an annual Country Music Festival in February.
Other links:
West Wimmera Health Service Website
Goroke Web links
‘Goroke – Health Information’
http://walkabout.com.au/locations/VICGoroke.shtml
Past student completed and suggested project ideas
Look more at infrastructure, in and out of context of healthcare
Visit Nhill Hospital if possible – it’s brand new
Goroke has many challenges to health care delivery so conversations with staff made it easy to choose topics for the assignments.
Access and confidentiality are major issues. A good project would be to look at the ambulance service and emergency travel.
Mix of complex medical problems in Goroke
Ethical Practice
Past student comments/suggestions
Great staff and organisation of our visits to clinics i.e. Edenhope and Natimuk
Great sense of community achieved.
The staff, especially Ann, made the placement worthwhile
The staff, especially Julie was very welcoming and willing to help us and be interviewed for our project.
Very relaxed environment, friendly staff and community supportive.
Eye-opening friendly people
Nursing staff at health centre friendly.