Summary
From clinician to manager, Bernie’s career is thriving at Biloela Hospital.
Biloela local Bernie joined our Biloela Hospital team in 2019 as a Senior Dietitian and has recently stepped up as Acting Allied Health Team Leader.
"This is my first team leader role. It's a big change going from clinician to manager, so I've had lots of support from more experienced leaders. I'm supported by the Emerald team leader, the Gladstone team leader, and people in Rockhampton as well."
Bernie’s pleased to have a full team of allied health professions to work with in what she describes as a “really nice small hospital environment”.
“You get to know everyone. It's just nice to come to work.”
For Bernie, working in rural health has had clear career perks.
"You get exposure to a lot of different things you wouldn’t see in a specialty area in a bigger place. It's a great place to start your career and figure out what you like, rather than pigeonholing yourself straight away.”
"The whole team has a generalist caseload of inpatients and outpatients, so we see across the lifespan from birth to death."
"It means lots of variety, which is good because you see something different every day, but it also means you need to have a network and connections because you can get some unexpected things come through."
The team in Biloela is well connected to larger teams at Rockhampton and Gladstone Hospitals, and they all work together to deliver great care to our community across Central Queensland.
If you’re at the beginning of your career in health, Bernie says Biloela Hospital is “a good place to come, experience things, and branch off from there if that's what you want to do. Otherwise, it's a great place for a generalist career.”
When asked about life in Biloela, Bernie says, “We've got a little property and so I love the space and having animals. Bilo is really close to things as well, so it's rural but it's not isolated. It's not too far from Gladstone and Rocky and the beach.”
If you would like to take Bernie’s advice and start working in rural health, please view our vacancies on the Queensland Health Careers website. We have health care facilities across Central Queensland and we regularly recruit great people to join our team.
Thanks for your care and leadership, Bernie!