following the people path

Dr Jean Pepperill

Following the people path

Dr Jean Pepperill

“It’s one of the favourite parts of my job, meeting people every day and hearing their stories."

Life was at a crossroads for Jean Pepperill.

A child of the desert, she was born in Alice Springs, but grew up in Brisbane, before the siren call of the red earth lured her back to the NT. She worked in the arts and the media and had just finished a stint in Brisbane completing a Bachelor of Science degree when she found herself back at her Dad’s kitchen table in Alice Springs, contemplating what the future could hold.

“I had loved health, and was tempted to go down the medical research route after my science degree, but I felt like medicine was a better fit for me,” Jean says.

“I had no idea where or how I was going to study medicine, the only thing I knew was I wanted to come home to the Territory.

“Just the day I got back my Dad had bought a copy of the Koori Mail and there was an ad with a picture of Belinda Washington (Flinders Northern Territory Medical Program graduate), and it said, ‘Do you want to become a doctor in the Territory?’.

“I called up straight away and it happened to be a week before applications closed and then within a few months, I was in Darwin, studying in the Northern Territory Medical Program with Flinders.”

Jean had been tempted to be a nurse, and also to work in pathology, but after a volunteer placement doing lung function testing on patients in Brisbane, she found she was most interested in why people were sent to do a lung function test.

“We had a lot of Aboriginal patients sent for lung function testing and most of the time they had no idea why there were being tested,” Jean says.

“I wanted to understand the results and also the reason for the test – but I also could see the communication problems first hand and the opportunity to improve the information provided to patients.

“I love to understand how disease processes work and apply that through my work. I also am definitely a people person. It’s one of the favourite parts of my job, meeting people every day and hearing their stories."

“On the flip side, one of the hardest parts of the job is that you can’t spend as much time with some patients as you would like to. It’s not an issue specific to Alice Springs, it’s how hospitals are set up.

“There are things that you don’t get time to address and you don’t focus on holistic care as much as you would like to – that’s one of the biggest things I struggle with.

“It is also a big jump to move from being a medical student to an intern. Sometimes it’s full on. To go from being a medical student where you have a lot more time, to a job where you have to be completely switched on all the time is sometimes draining and it can take a while to adapt.”

Jean graduated from the Flinders NT Medical Program with her MD in 2020 and is and is now working as an intern in Alice Springs. She is doing rotations through general medicine, general surgery and the emergency department before heading to Tennant Creek five hours north of Alice Springs, to work with GPs there.

“I’m really looking forward to Tennant Creek. My Dad’s family come from Barrow Creek and I have spent so long being away from family that I wanted to reconnect – also it’s just beautiful out there,” Jean says.

With a fresh perspective on the health system and the challenges of best serving Aboriginal patients from many different areas, Jean has noticed several opportunities to improve the patient and practitioner experience.

“Alice Springs does some things a lot better than other places. There are interpreters and Aboriginal Liaison Officers to translate information to patients, because English is a second or third language for a lot of people. But there is a lot further we could go – there is nothing written in the hospital in other languages, no consent forms, signs or writing on the wall that is in any language other than English, and I would love to see more information provided in language for patients, particularly consent forms and critical information for patients,” she says.

“Alice Springs is one of those places people like to come to, and they have a good time when they are here and do what they can, but mostly they end up leaving and it’s hard to build up a permanent dedicated workforce.

“If there are more opportunities to complete your specialisation in Alice Springs, it will really help to encourage a more permanent medical workforce.”

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