The Catholic Weekly 3 May 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 7 3, May, 2020 NEARLY 200 medical stu- dents from Notre Dame Uni- versity have answered the call to join the fight against the coronavirus. The students ranging from first-year to final-year students in the universi¬ty’s School of Medicine will soon be put to work in hos¬pitals in Sydney and Melbourne to alleviate the pressure on medical and nursing staff. They will be appointed to essential care that does not relate to COVID-19 and will be assigned roles, both paid and unpaid, where there is need for support. “There is a feeling among many of our medical stu- dents that they want to play a more active part in the community’s critical re- THE UNIVERSITY of No- tre Dame has announced the new Master of Bioethics Pro- gram to be available later this year. The new graduate-entry, one-year program will offer an innovative approach to developing ethical thinking and decision-making to tack- le the difficult questions of our time. “With two medical schools, two schools of philosophy and theology and deep inter- national connections we can make a unique contribution to the immediate challenges of COVID-19 and the many other contemporary and emerging issues in health and biosciences,” said UNDA Vice Chancellor Professor Francis Campbell. Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Christine Bennett AO said recent events had highlighted the need for a program such as the new de- gree. “More than ever the events of this year - bushfire trag- edies, hundred-year floods and now the global COVID-19 pandemic – have highlighted the need for expert critical thinking and ethical decision making in our governments and our health system,” said Professor Bennett. A multidisciplinary faculty from the schools of Medicine, Philosophy andTheology, and Law as well as from the na- tional Institute for Ethics and Society will teach and super- vise students in the degree. The course will be availa- ble to graduates from a range of disciplines including med- Notre Dame is well-situated tomake a unique contribution, says Vice Chancellor ¾ ¾ Marilyn Rodrigues New Bioethics program confronts key issues Med students help fill gaps Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Christine Bennett AO with students at Notre Dame’s School of Medicine. PHOTO: UNDA sponse to COVID-19 and to be able to help during these very challenging times,” said Professor Michael Brydon, the Associate Dean at No- tre Dame’s Rural Clinical School. “In the massive effort be- ing undertaken nationally to enhance our health service workforce this may be a rela- tively small contribution but this is a time of ‘all hands on deck’. It’s wonderful to see our Notre Dame students being willing to assist.” Usually final-year stu- dents are required to com- plete a two-week orientation at the end of their program in preparation for working in the health system. Fast-tracking the training will allow 180 students to take up a variety of super- vised hospital roles, freeing up junior doctors to assist on the frontlines. James Gatenby, a fi- nal-year medical student at Notre Dame, said that he is confident he has been given the practical tools needed to help out during the crisis. “I’d love to volunteer be- cause it’s my duty as a future medical professional to help out in whatever way I rea- sonably can,” he said. The university is also run- ning intensive training ‘boot camps’ for final-year medical students to prepare them to be as sub-interns who will take on practical paid roles within the healthcare system. Sessions refresh students’ knowledge in areas includ- ing the use of personal pro- tective equipment and the electronic medical records systems in hospitals. icine, law, nursing, health sciences, philosophy and the- ology to enrich ethical consid- erations from many perspec- tives. In Australia as elsewhere, health professionals and pol- iticians are having to address new matters of life and death. Central to each new challenge is the value of the human per- With two medical schools, two schools of philosophy and theology and deep international connections we can make a unique contribution to the immediate challenges ...” Professor Francis Campbell, UNDA Vice Chancellor In brief Kate thinks big TIMES ARE tough for many young people but one Sydney nursing stu- dent has donated her $1000 prize money for community service to a shelter for women and children. Kate Saw was recently named the 2019 recipient of Notre Dame Univer- sity’s Toby Hicks Service to Student Community Award for her work in developing an improved mentor program to sup- port first-year students of the School of Nursing in Sydney. Nursing Dean Sally Robertson said Ms Saw, who herself mentored 16 students, developed a proposal to strengthen the program and reduce the ratio of mentors to those mentored. Ms Saw said she hoped the new program pro- vides students “a greater feeling of community and support, particularly now during these challenging times and with the move to online study”. She also decided to give her prize money to Bayside Women’s Shel- ter, an organisation that responds to vulnerable women and families in crisis and works to help prevent domestic vio- lence. “I was introduced to the shelter by another stu- dent at Notre Dame,” she said. “The COVID-19 situa- tion has given me pause to reflect on the amount of privilege many of us ex- perience in our day to day lives, and how we some- times take safety and se- curity for granted. “Current isolation and social distancing meas- ures, as well as general stress in this context, place women and children who are already vulnerable at a greater risk – so I wanted to support this service. “It was a lovely surprise towin the prize. “Butmost importantly it felt great to be supported in com- munity-focused efforts, which I’ve been happy to see so many examples of lately as we respond to COVID-19.” Kate Saw ¾ ¾ Marilyn Rodrigues son. The Master of Bioethics at UNDA will meet the grow- ing need for ethics trained health and legal professionals, policy writers and advisors, educators, philosophers and theologians. The course begins in Se- mester 2, 2020. To register interest visit no- tredame.edu.au/bioethics. Med Students will be put to work in hospitals here in Sydney and Victoria to alleviate pressure on medical staff. ¾ ¾ David Ryan NEWS