The Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust has announced application details for two significant scholarships worth a total of $30,000 to encourage undergraduate and rural health professional research and professional development.

“Scholarships offered by the Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust assist young people to spend valuable time in innovative and challenging overseas situations, to return, and to become the new generation of idea generators here in New Zealand,” said Mr John Farry, Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust Chairman.

General Practitioner Dr Pat Farry was a tireless advocate and champion of rural health before he passed away in 2009. He devoted much of his career to advocating and lobbying for improvements and funding for rural medicine as well as mentoring and teaching rural healthcare professionals.

The Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust was established in March 2010 to support the sustainability and quality of health services to rural communities.  One of the ways in which the Trust does this is by providing scholarships for undergraduate medical students and young rural health professionals said Mr John Farry.

“The biennial Pat Farry Trust Scholarship awards $20,000 to a rural health care professional in the early stages of their career to travel abroad and gain skills that could improve rural health, both in their own rural community and hopefully New Zealand’s rural communities in general,” said Mr John Farry.

“The annual Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust Travelling Scholarship awards up to $10,000.00, which may be divided between two recipients, to students of the University of Otago School of Medicine to travel internationally to a rural situation to observe new concepts, develop their own skills and share their learning with other students when they return.”

Since 2011, nine medical students have benefitted from the Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust’s scholarship programme. While the Trust is based in Dr Farry’s hometown of Queenstown and has links to the University of Otago School of Medicine where he taught, the student’s own home bases and careers are New Zealand wide.

Recipients to date have originally come from Thames, Paraparaumu, Tauranga, Ngatea, Matamata, Christchurch and Auckland before studying at the University of Otago School of Medicine campuses in Dunedin, Christchurch and Wellington or on RMIP (Rural Medical Immersion Programme) placement in Dannevirke, Blenheim, Greymouth, Queenstown, Balclutha and Masterton.

“The Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust’s vision is for our work and the experiences that these students and young health professionals gain to ultimately contribute to the quality of rural health services in all regions of New Zealand,” said Mr John Farry.

While the Scholarship was offered in 2011, there were no suitable applications so the 2014 recipient will be the first to receive the Pat Farry Trust Scholarship. The recipient will be announced at the New Zealand Rural General Practice Network annual conference in Wellington 13-16 March 2014. The annual Pat Farry Trust Fun Run / Walk will once again be a feature on the conference social calendar.

Earlier this year, 2012 Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust Travelling Scholarship recipient Kerry Short travelled to the Chitwan District of Nepal where she joined a travelling rural clinic based programme called “Hope and Home Nepal” before travelling to Katete, eastern Zambia for a six week placement at the St Francis Hospital and a four day placement with the Flying Medical Service in Arusha, Tanzania.

A second 2012 recipient, Nicola Shaw, travelled to Ecuador to join the Cinterandes Foundation mobile surgical bus service for five weeks before also traveling to St Francis Hospital in Katete, Zambia.

Applications open for the 2013 Pat Farry Rural Health Education Trust Travelling Scholarship on 13 August 2013 and for the 2014 Pat Farry Trust Scholarship on 2 September 2013. Application forms can be downloaded at http://www.patfarrytrust.co.nz/scholarships/ from 13 August 2013.