twrama 1841_august_2.. - AMA WA

DR YES
Valley visit a
success
On the road: The Dr YES team.
Team work: Dr Yes coordinators Sophie
Doherty and Michael Kirk.
Connecting: Dr YES team member Sarah Cole
holds an interactive session with students.
Students in the Avon Valley and Wheatbelt region had the opportunity
to discuss sexual health, mental health and alcohol and drugs as 14
Doctor YES volunteers toured the region in late June.
The Dr YES team arranged its annual Mini Getaway this year to the
towns of York, Cunderdin, Brookton, Toodyay, Northam, Kellerberrin
and Quairading. Spanning three days, the medical students delivered
the proven program to over 400 students from year six to 12. The visits
were well received and the ensuing feedback from parents, teachers and
students alike has been positive with requests for future sessions.
The trip to the Avon region was the first in a series of rural visits that
the Dr YES team will make over the coming months, which will include
ventures to the East Kimberley in September and the Great Southern in
late November.
Such trips are an opportunity to expand the horizons of the program
and successfully complement the fully booked-out metropolitan program
that resumed on the first day of students arriving back to school after the
June/July break.
Dr YES is a program that is proudly supported by the AMA (WA)
Foundation. One of its goals is to help break down the barriers preventing
young people from accessing health care and overcome some of the
common misconceptions about doctors.
48 MEDICUS August