I landed at the hospital in their Education center. Each rural teaching site has one of these beautiful buildings which serve as the education hub for the rural students.
I helped out with Trauma Day (arguably not my specialty) but it was really fun. We put chest tubes into dummy boxes and talked about a trauma scenario regarding a motorcycle accident and a pneumothorax. The day was really fun.
Unfortunately, I got some terrible family news at the end of the day. This news cut my Australia trip short and I headed back to Chicago the next day (Day 13). Said my goodbyes to the computer lab, my POD and my room and hopped the 14 hour flight to LAX.
I didn't have any time for personal goodbyes to all the many wonderful people I've met along the way. I will miss Australia dearly as I just felt like I was getting into the swing of things, but there is hope for a return trip in the future.
One positive for the final day - I finally saw my first kangaroo. They were in the fields off to the side of the road on the way to Melbourne. I couldn't believe it - I was treated to two packs of wild kangaroos. Going too fast for a photo, but really splendid animals!
Thanks for reading. I do hope that you all enjoyed my blog. Don't worry - Steve and I made a promise to ourselves to head back to the outback for a true sight-seeing trip - perhaps we'll hit up Australia AND New Zealand.