By KATRINA BRANDON
PASSION of the field runs deep in the new physiotherapy graduates at Federation University’s Gippsland campus in Churchill.
Last month, 22 students and a few teachers organised a pre-graduation to celebrate the end of the course together.
The pre-graduation was an opportunity to celebrate in case students couldn’t make the March graduation ceremony due to placement within the industry.
The 2024 physiotherapy graduates are as close as they come. Taking hand-in-hand approaches to getting through the course, student Bella Fraser told the Express they all supported each other and received support from the teachers throughout the course.
“It was week two of this course, and I knew everybody’s names and the lecturers knew our names,” she said.
“Over the four years, all of us and the relationships that we have with our lecturers have been so special. I have been able to lean on them as referees this year, and they are always open to chat and advice. They know us really well, you can’t get that anywhere else. It has been really good.”
Bella’s interest in physiotherapy has been inspired by many sources, including her family and sports. As part of a family in high-level sports, Bella watched her siblings come home and herself with injuries from sports, and spent many hours in a physio office. Another inspiration for the physio path came from Bella’s gymnastics coach early on, who was studying physiotherapy at the time.
Throughout school, Bella always wanted to go down the physio path. One of her other passions was dance, but during COVID-19 there were no positions in dance, so she had to decide where she could go from there. Bella then heard about the Fed Uni course from her high school career counsellor. From there, she never looked back.
Another graduate, Julia Malan said that after studying a science course, she became interested in the human body and movement.
Stepping into the physiotherapy course, Julia found it to be a broad topic and that it was interesting to learn about the different specialty areas she could pursue.
After finishing the course, Julia will step into a rotating role at Latrobe Regional Health.
“I am really keen to get a taste of different hospital areas where physios might work or see various types of patients and other conditions. I am really excited to start that next year,” she said.
“It is really cool and a privilege to study, live and now work in Gippsland. Gippsland is a special area, both because of the landscape and the communities.”
Federation’s Head of Physiotherapy, Professor Louisa Remedios, expressed that she was impressed with the graduates and their achievements over the years.
“The students are a fantastic bunch,” she said.
“Primarily, our job is to get them ready to work as physiotherapists, and part of that process is to spend about a year in clinical practice and clinical placements. They get broad experience; they’re very well prepared.
“We are looking at our students holistically and trying to really help them with their knowledge and skills, but also their capabilities, listening and speaking, their ability to diagnose conditions and to treat it, and also to socially prescribe but also physically prescribe care. I think they will make the world a healthier place.”
