New Forbes Medical Centre registrar Dr Chen-yi Lo has already lived in a number of places in Australia, but says she is enjoying the friendly lifestyle Forbes has to offer. Dr Lo started working at the Forbes Medical Centre this year, along with fellow newcomers Dr Maria Rasool and Dr Farrah Yasmin.
It is her first permanent position in a General Practitioners clinic, with her previous work being in hospitals, apart from a brief three-month period. Dr Lo was born in Taiwan, and spent her school years in Singapore before relocating
to Melbourne in 2002, where she spent six years at the University of Melbourne in medical studies.
Before she moved to Forbes this year, she worked at the Ballarat Hospital in Victoria, and prior to that, she spent seven years working at hospitals in South Australia, where she first started work as a doctor. She is currently in a 12 month rotating working arrangement, and as such, she will move on to another, yet-to-be-determined, medical practice next year.
She said she was enjoying the friendly and easy lifestyle Forbes provided. “Forbes is very different from where I have been before. It’s a long way from the nearest major cities,” she said. “I have worked in rural communities before, so Forbes isn’t really that different in that way, but the distance from the nearest city is what is new for me.”
“The environment in Forbes is really enjoyable, and the people here are really friendly, so it hasn’t been too difficult getting used to living here.” Having worked mostly in cities, such as Adelaide and Ballarat, Dr Lo said there were differences in the environment of working in either setting.
“You get to know your patients a lot better working in a rural GP clinic than a city hospital, as the people will normally always come to see the same doctor,” she said.
By Joshua Matic