Broome
Broome is the southern gateway to the raw wilderness of the Kimberley and has a resident population of 16,000 people, a number that triples in holiday season due to its beaches, tropical weather and stunning sunsets.
The RCSWA Broome office was one of the first sites to be established in 2002 and is located in the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services (KAMS) offices, where students have most of their tutorials and access to the library and WIFI. A total of 10 penultimate students and several final year students train with RCSWA Broome each year.
Street addresses: 1 / 46 Dampier Terrace (Office) & 12 Napier Terrace (Training Rooms at KAMS)
Postal address: RCSWA Broome, PO Box 2751, BROOME WA 6725
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Accommodation
In Broome there are two four-bedroom houses in Roebuck Estate and one six-bedroom house in Cable Beach. All houses are fully furnished, and students are provided with high-speed NBN internet access within each property.
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Transport
Although Broome is a ‘flat’ town with bicycle paths throughout, it is strongly recommended that students bring their car for their whole-year stay. Cycling is difficult in the heat and during the cyclone season. A 4WD car is essential if you are planning to explore the Gibb River Road Region.
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Health Services
Broome Hospital consists of a four-bed high dependency unit and 39 beds in the medical, surgical, and maternity units. There is a 10-bed paediatric unit and eight-bed in-patient mental health unit, along with a busy emergency department. The hospital has general surgical and gynaecology theatre lists; about 350 babies are delivered in the hospital each year.
Broome has resident general surgical, general physician, paediatric, psychiatry and gynaecology teams. All the specialists are keen on teaching, and tutorials are scheduled throughout the year. Other than the local specialists, a full range of specialists visit regularly while attending to other towns and communities throughout the Kimberley. Orthopaedics, ENT, dermatology, and cardiology visit Broome several times a year.
The Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service (BRAMS) offers multi-disciplinary primary health care and the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services (KAMS) provides a teaching campus for Aboriginal health workers and support for Aboriginal health services throughout the Kimberley.
Lions Outback Vision (LOV) Northwest Eye Hub provides specialist ophthalmologist and optometrist services for residents with cataracts, trachoma, and glaucoma, as well as those with low vision and permanent blindness. The team provides screening and management of diabetic retinopathy and outreach services to Derby, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Kununurra, Wyndham and Warmun.
General Practices
There are three private GP practices in Broome that provide primary health care.
Community Services- Community Drug Team and residential alcohol dependence treatment facility
- Kimberley Drug and Alcohol and Mental Health Services
- Regional Aged Care Assessment team and aged care facilities
- Broome is a regional centre for other government services, including Centrelink, Department for Communities, Department of Education and Training and WA Police.
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Extra Activities
RCSWA Broome students have often been involved in footy, fishing, tutoring (privately and through some of the schools), with local community groups and much more during their RCSWA year.
Find out more about Broome and its wonderful community by visiting the following links:
Staff Profiles
Lead Medical Coordinator, Broome
Des Taverner
Des finds practicing medicine in the country challenging and diverse, but considers it more than just a job - it is a lifestyle. She enjoys being part of the community and developing collaborative relationships with local health professionals to make a difference in her region. Des loves mentoring and teaching students and seeing them return to rural areas to grow their medical careers.
What I love about the RCSWA
I love being part of an organisation that also believes that in order to maintain our patients' health, we need to build and maintain a healthy and robust workforce.
Medical & final year coordinator, broome
Rachel Hall
Rachel is a rural generalist working in the Broome Hospital Emergency Department and teaching RCSWA penultimate year students. She also coordinates the Final Year program in the Kimberley and supports final year students across WA following the Notre Dame curriculum. Rachel welcomes second year medical students to Broome twice a year for a six-week rural immersion called Broome Learning on Country (BLOC). She loves being part of a rural community with its challenging medicine and has made Broome her home complete with cowboy, horses, dogs and 26 mango trees on her block.
What I love about the RCSWA
RCSWA has been a great rural family that has enabled me to live a life in the bush and share my passion for this life and medicine with students.
Medical coordinator, broome
Liz Gannon
Liz is currently a regional specialist in O&G and is passionate about building a positive culture on the Broome maternity ward. She loves inspiring the next generation of GP Obstetricians who are the backbone of obstetrics for much of rural Australia.
What I love about the RCSWA
I collaborate with all the stakeholders involved in rural GP training so that together we can support and inspire our amazing students and RMOs. The path to becoming a skilled Rural Generalist or Rural GP is long - like all medical training in Australia - but so worth it.
medical coordinator, broome
Melody Miolin
Melody is a former RCSWA student who never left the North West. Now a Medical Coordinator in Broome, she also works with the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service focused on the care of First Nations young people, her dream job as a student.
What I love about the RCSWA
I feel so lucky to live and work in the spectacular Kimberley and love walking alongside our students for a year, showing them how wonderful rural medicine can be and how to practice with care and compassion. My favourite bit about RCSWA is when former students then become my colleagues.
medical coordinator, broome
Pallas Mareyo
Since being an RCSWA Broome student many years ago, Pallas is very happy to be back working with the Broome team as a Medical Coordinator. She is a Rural Generalist GP Obstetrician who has spent the past 20 years in the NT and far north Queensland. She returned to the beautiful Kimberley with her family in 2020.
What I love about the RCSWA
I feel very passionate about rural medicine and can see the positive impact that the RCSWA has had supporting students to gain experience in this field. I love how engaged the organisation is with the needs of folks on the ground and the respect for autonomy and collaborative learning.
academic services officer, broome
Gina Hailes
Gina is a proud Kimberley local who has called the region home for over 20 years. With extensive experience in the health sector, she is deeply committed to fostering the growth and success of junior doctors and medical students as they embark on their rural training journeys.
What I love about the RCSWA
I love the opportunities RCSWA provides to our students and how that benefits our local community and regional health more broadly.
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