Young rural advocates heading north to Cairns

Harper Dalton-Earls from Lismore, NSW, and Shanae Eikelboom from Bayonet Head, WA, will be the National Rural Health Alliance’s guests at the 14^th National Rural Health Conference as winners of the 2017 Des Murray Scholarship.

The award enables young people from rural and remote areas to attend the National Rural Health Conference by covering the cost of registration, airfares and accommodation.

Harper, aged 26, is a volunteer coordinator for Fresh Fruits, a peer support group that provides social support, education and activities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, intersex and questioning (LGBTIQ) young people. In his role, Harper assists in coordinating social and community activities for group members to help combat issues of social isolation and homophobia and to promote social inclusion, community acceptance, health and wellbeing.

Twenty-year-old Shanae Eikelboom is passionate about aged care and works in a residential and community aged care centre where she also mentors students and new staff. Shanae is an active member of her church where she organises soup dinners for over 75’s from the local community.

If you happen to see Harper or Shanae at the Conference make sure you say ‘hello’, have a chat and help make their first National Rural Health Conference an experience to remember.

The Des Murray Scholarship has been awarded at every National Rural Health Conference since 2001 and was established in honour of Des Murray, who devoted himself to improving the health and wellbeing of rural and remote people and was a key player in the development of rural health policies in Australia.