Laying down roots in the Tablelands

One of the many reasons to love general practice is getting to be there for your patients throughout many life seasons. It was this continuity of care that enticed Dr Jessica Wilcox back to her childhood home region of Far North Queensland. Now close to fellowing, she has no intentions to leave and is encouraging other registrars to settle down in this Far North paradise.

After graduating from JCU in 2019, Dr Wilcox spent her internship and junior doctor years in Cairns and Mackay. While she loved the experience, she says she always had her eyes set on a move to the Atherton Tablelands, near her childhood hometown of Mt Garnet.

“I always knew I wanted to settle on the Tablelands,” Dr Wilcox says. “I’m passionate about my job and my work in medicine, but I knew I could do primary care anywhere, which is the beauty of it. I wanted to live here because of the lifestyle. I love the landscape, the people, the small-town vibe, everything,” Dr Wilcox says.

The appeal for general practice came in when Dr Wilcox realised how much she liked getting a taste of all the different specialties during her JCU rural placements.

“The issue was I liked elements of every job that I did through placements and rotations! No matter the rotation I found that I enjoyed the clinic-based job and building relationships with patients. It just naturally attracted me to primary care.

As part of GP training at Atherton Clinic, Dr Wilcox treats a diverse range of cases and has a mix of areas she is passionate about as well as less familiar areas to extend her skills.

“I have a particular interest in women’s health, which I do a lot of, but I also do things I never expected to be doing. I am doing a lot of skin cancer procedures as well as geriatric medicine and men’s health. The work is just so diverse, it definitely extends you beyond your comfort zone.”

As she prepares to Fellow, Dr Wilcox is now well and truly settled in Atherton for the long haul and says it heartening to see other registrars in her cohort making plans to stay in the Tablelands as well.

“One of the first things you get asked by patients when you start working in a place like Atherton is ‘How long are you here for?’. While it’s good to have doctors here for any amount of time, what the community really needs is consistency. Otherwise, patients get to know their doctor for a year and then it changes.

“Stay here isn’t just good for the patients, it’s great for us as doctors. We have this wonderful little microcosm of a community here; a lot of the doctors now have kids, and this is a wonderful place to raise a family. I think it’s great we’ve got this bunch of doctors who are committed to staying here for the foreseeable future,” Dr Wilcox says.

When not working, together with her partner, Dr Wilcox tends to her little hobby farm just outside of Atherton. While she says it’s small for now, with a few chickens, a veggie patch, and her pet cat, she says there is plenty of room to grow.

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