The Spirit of JCU Award recognises alumni living or working predominantly (more than 50% of the time) in remote or very remote locations across Australia.
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NewsTranscript
00:00My name's Abigail Guthrie and I'm a veterinarian based near Injun in southwest Queensland.
00:10I always wanted to become a vet from a young age, loved animals.
00:16Studying at JCU was quite a new course at the time, I think we were the fourth cohort
00:20to go through.
00:21Their veterinary course has such a focus on rural mixed practice, which is working with
00:25both large and small animals, which a lot of other unis around Australia didn't have
00:30so much a focus on.
00:32I always wanted to work rurally, I couldn't picture myself living in the city.
00:36People in country communities are down to earth and there's such a great variety of
00:41work.
00:42Anything from vaccinating a pup through to seeing a cow calving or a horse with colic.
00:48For a lot of people, animals aren't just a pet to them or livestock, it's their livelihood.
00:55It's the only family they have in a lot of circumstances.
00:59I find overall people that are from areas that don't have access to vets regularly and
01:04you do offer those services, they're so much more grateful for your efforts.
01:09Being in a small town, you're not just there to do your job, you are a part of the community
01:12so you're involved, not just in seeing people and their animals and helping them with that,
01:19you're also involved sometimes in education.
01:21So speaking at different functions or if someone wants to have a bit of a yarn down
01:25the street about how their animal's going, you're always open to it.
01:30Very surprised when one of the other students at JCU that I graduated with nominated me
01:35for this award because there are plenty of people around that have dedicated their lives
01:39to working in such areas and to be the one to receive this award is really humbling.
01:45Really keen to continue what I've been doing, I really enjoy working as a vet and providing
01:50these services to these communities and that's what I hope to do, just continue to be consistent
01:54and continue in this profession.