General News
8 June, 2024
A dream fulfilled for student mum
Bailey Price moved to Horsham from New Zealand last year, after her husband, Dan Page, was offered a job locally that was "too good to refuse".
She'd had the desire to study a Diploma of Nursing for quite some time, and the move - along with daughters Amelie, 7, and Sofia, 4 - gave her the ideal opportunity to do so.
Ms Price, who has also worked as a chef and a member of police, enrolled at Federation University Australia this year.
She is one of 17 scholarship recipients of the university in the Wimmera, awarded the Ryan Margetts Memorial Scholarship.
"The move made sense for us," Ms Price said. "It meant I didn't have to work and could go back to school and back into nursing.
"I'm currently working casually at the hospital, but in New Zealand I did a number of jobs to make ends meet."
Nursing has always been a dream for Ms Price for several reasons.
"My youngest has spent a bit of time in hospitals when she was younger, and I seem to be a bit accident prone," she said.
"We have a lot of family and friends in the medical profession, a number of nurses including my two best friends.
"I was a chef prior to having the children, and I was always the one fixing burns, and when anyone chopped off the top of their finger I was the one in there fixing it up.
"I've always been fascinated with that side of things."
It was still a big step for Ms Price to enrol in the Diploma of Nursing, though, and she admits she doubted herself in the past.
"But with a husband that is supportive and enthusiastic kids, I've decided to jump into nursing and give it a go, and I am really enjoying it so far," she said.
To be a good nurse, Ms Price said you not only needed to have empathy, but also the ability to listen.
"Taking the time to actually make that connection, you need to be able to know where they are coming from," she said.
"It's not just a diagnosis medically, it's a connection. You need to support the mum if a child is in hospital, or you need to make sure the gentleman that has been admitted, his wife he cares for, she's okay.
"We've had fantastic nurses look after us in that way, and we have had the opposite.
"I definitely want to be the first option. I want to be the nurse that makes a difference."
A record number of students are being supported through scholarships at Federation University Australia, with 254 awarded this year.