The latest cohort of medical interns completed orientation at the Orange Health Services this week, ahead of their first official day on the job on Monday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Nineteen young doctors were selected from 160 applicants for the two-year residency program at the Orange hospital.
The recent graduates will undertake five rotations each year through the different specialities, with each intern spending time in the general medicine, surgery and emergency departments.
Lily Taylor was granted placement alongside her partner Xavier Fitzgerald.
She said a hospital of Orange's size is attractive in that senior administration are approachable and if there is a particular area of interest, locating the relevant individuals for advice is not an issue.
"Because it's so small and the community is so tight I wouldn't feel worried about going to speak directly to that person," she said.
"In Sydney or at one of the bigger hospitals you might not get to meet your coordinator for the whole term."
The intake of 19 graduates for 2020 was two more than started at the hospital in 2019, as a way of combating the greater demand for doctors in Orange as hospital services grow.
Dr Fitzgerald said there was more opportunities to be involved with a diverse range of patients early, than would be offered at a bigger hospital.
"There's only 19 of us here interning while at some of the major Sydney hospitals there'd be over 100," he said.
Jessie Burrows moved to Orange one month ago with partner Jordan Stockman, who has found a job as a physiotherapist at WorkFocus.
She said Orange's competitive housing market had made it tough to purchase.
"It seemed like houses that went on the market on Thursday were gone by Tuesday," Dr Burrows said.
Dr Streater moved from Sydney as part of a Rural Doctors Network Scholarship, he said finding a rental had not been easy either.
Mayor Reg Kidd told the interns if he could see any changes with medical services in Orange it would be for a more "consistent" standard of care for ageing residents and more micro-surgeries performed at the hospital.
Cr Kidd said his late father had travelled to Westmead Hospital for procedures he felt should be available.
DO YOU WANT MORE ORANGE NEWS?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...