Justine Roberts
Mary Curran Scholarship
2015 Mary Curran Scholarship recipient Justine Roberts is in her final year of the Bachelor of Nursing Practice Leadership degree at ACU North Sydney campus.
"My determination comes from a lifelong dream to be a nurse. Not just any nurse, a nurse that is for the people, regardless of who they are or what they have done, where they're from, or what they believe in."
Justine's scholarship has helped her professional development by allowing her to travel to East Timor to participate in the Train the Trainer program for her second time, delivering education to local healthcare workers and village volunteers in the provision of basic primary care.
"As a student nurse [for the 2014 program] I witnessed various vaccine preventable diseases which inspired me to create a public health program to train indigenous health care workers on the importance of immunisation. My training program is a curriculum designed for both health care workers and village volunteers to address key issues which impact on the immunisation rates in Timor-Leste.
I was then invited to deliver the program in Timor-Leste in 2015.
Like all students, the budget is tight. My husband and I are low income earners and raising a family on one income is tough, let alone factoring in travel to Timor-Leste. I knew the only way this was going to happen was if I were to apply for a scholarship. Initially, I had to decline the Mary Curran Scholarship as the cost of the study tour exceeded the value of the scholarship. Mary Curran made it possible by offering the additional funds required. content here