‘Don’t be boring in the city’: New campaign to fill roles in Outback Queensland

A range of lures are being used to entice much-needed young doctors and nurses to the Outback.

Mount Isa ED nurse Tahnia Ah Kit

Promises of lucrative salaries, free accommodation, cool adventurous friends and boyfriends with helicopters are some of the strategies being used to entice much-needed young doctors and nurses out to Mount Isa.

A bunch of PR pictures recently released by the North West Health and Hospital Service (NWHHS) showcases some of their current lifesavers in an effort to prove how great life in the north west can be.

This includes 25-year-old junior doctor Gabrielle Keating, who met her muster pilot boyfriend in Julia Creek and now “enjoys joy flights in her partner’s helicopter” – a little different from Sydney or Melbourne!

Dr Keating started out in the Northwest five years ago as a medical student and said people generally assumed Mount Isa was a “mining pit in the middle of nowhere,” which wasn’t the reality.

“It is actually a very pretty part of the world,” Dr Keating said.

“Don’t be boring in the city. The city is not going anywhere, but having this remote experience early on can change your trajectory.”

Dr Gabrielle Keating has been working in the northwest for the last five years, and now serves as a junior doctor in Mount Isa.

Emergency Department nurse Tahnia Ah Kit also participated in the campaign to show how completely normal and approachable the people of Mount Isa are.

The born-and-raised local returned to her hometown after completing a nursing degree at James Cook University.

“I feel like anyone who comes from a metropolitan area doesn’t have a clear idea of what Mount Isa is,” she said.

“We get a lot of people from Brisbane who get a little bit of culture shock because they’re not used to having (Aboriginal) culture around them, or the shops are shut on Sunday.”

Ms Ah Kit said the six-day grocery shop was actually the biggest hurdle new arrivals struggled with, but cautioned against shopping on Saturday too.

“Saturday is when all the guys come in from the stations to do their shopping, so it’s chockablock,” she said.

“What I love most about Mount Isa is I can get in my car, pack my paddleboard, pack my dogs, and go to any dam or river and be out there unplugged for a whole day.”

Mount Isa ED nurse Tahnia Ah Kit

The ED nurse also highly recommended her workplace, which can get multiple Royal Flying Doctors inpatients a day.

“It is a great work culture here. I love working with all the girls, and when we go into resus (resuscitation: the act of bringing someone back to life) we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

For foreigners seeking adventure, there was Canadian doctor Brianna Smith, who vouched for Mount Isa as a second home, where she lives with her FIFO fiance and “adorable puppy Moose”.

“People might just think of Mount Isa as a small rural hospital when in fact it’s a large specialist hospital with a lot of specialist training,” Dr Smith said.

“We are so remote we need to be self-sufficient. And Mount Isa is full of young professionals – not just in the hospital but teachers and engineers. There are not a lot of old people out here.”

Dr Brianna Smith from Canada currently lives in Mount Isa with her FIFO fiance and pet dog 'Moose'.

According to the NWHHS, many of their doctors enjoy gardening, bushwalking, camping and stargazing in their spare time.

“They’re encouraging more young people to set their sights on country life and enjoy the lucrative salary packages on offer through NWHHS, which includes free accommodation and incentives,” a NWHHS spokesman said.

Dr Gabrielle Keating and partner Fergus in the northwest

Right now, active recruitment is happening across nine roles, from resident medical officers to principal house officers, GP registrars, emergency medicine basic trainees and more.

It’s hoped young graduates sick of the cities will gather up the nerves to apply for the essential – but remote – work.

Any attempt to make Mount Isa Instagram-worthy probably wouldn’t hurt.

This recruitment effort comes after the NWHHS launched ‘Deadly Start’ in 2023, a program designed to place Indigenous high school students in traineeships within the health service.

Originally published as ‘Don’t be boring in the city’: New campaign to fill roles in Outback Queensland