Sarah-Kathleen Wadwell

I am a proud Worimi/Biripi woman born on Darug country in Blacktown. Raised, live, work and play on Darkinjung country. I have two older sisters and I was the first person in my family to go to university. My parents were so proud, and unfortunately my mother passed away the year after I finished uni. My dad will openly admit that I am his favourite and my sisters call me the golden child because I am the youngest and can do no wrong. I finished Year twelve at Northlakes High School on the central coast then soon after completed my AIN course through Boorongen Djugun College. I was fortunate enough to secure a place in the CCLHD Enrolled Nurse Program the following year and then the Enrolled Nurse Medication Endorsement soon after. I worked as a mental health nurse for 17 years before deciding to start my Registered Nurse journey. After graduating I discovered my passion for Aboriginal Health and preventative community-based treatments and undertook a role as a practice nurse at Yerin – Eleanor Duncan Aboriginal Medical Service at Wyong. I am currently the lead nurse at Nunyara the Aboriginal Health Unit at Gosford Hospital. My current role involved navigation, care co-ordination and liaising for and with Aboriginal people diagnosed with chronic diseases and providing them with the support, education, and links they need to stay well in the community.

Having all 4 of my grandparents and both of my parents diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I always wanted to know more about what caused it and how to best manage the diagnosis. As I am heavily involved in chronic disease management and prevention within the Aboriginal community, I thought it would be wonderful to provide culturally safe and specific clinical diabetes education within my own community and one day use my knowledge to reduce the prevalence of diabetes within the overall population of my people.

Books were my first passion. I love to read, anything really from fiction and fantasy to medical journals and travel blogs. I love to learn anything and everything. If someone wants to teach me something or if there is something I don’t know about, then I will research and learn where I can to be as informed as possible. I honestly believe that education is the key to curing the worlds ills.

I applied to UTS specifically because of receiving the ADEA Research, BD Diabetes Care and UTS Friends Scholarship. I was truly honoured to be able to accept this. That is not to say that I would have withdrawn my application for the course if I was unsuccessful. Chronic disease management within the Aboriginal community is a passion of mine and this scholarship is going to allow me to complete further studies in this area without adding the financial burden of more HECS debt. Not to mention it is so nice that the ADEA has faith and confidence in myself and the other scholarship recipients. I feel that it is a requirement of our community members to constantly learn and share our knowledge to best of our ability. I also really liked the look and structure of the program.

Being able to connect with likeminded people is so rewarding. Knowing there are other Aboriginal people out there with the same goals and aspirations is a comfort to me. I love the course structure and the ability to clearly see what needs to be done and when, and the course coordinator is amazing.

I hope to become a credentialed diabetes educator and reduce the prevalence of diabetes within my community. I would like to create programs that educate children and parents about the ways to mitigate risks before a diabetes diagnosis and lifestyle factors that positively influence the lives of my mob.

My advice to future students who want to study the course would be to just do it. As much as I want more credentialed Diabetes Educators, even if you don’t become credentialed, more education is vital to be able to provide correct information to patients. People from any background should do this course as it not only increases your understanding of the pathophysiology of diabetes, but also supports you to be able to translate that into a usable format for your clients. It's truly such a wonderful, user-friendly course with a multitude of support from educators and course coordinators. Highly recommended!