D'Arcy

Bachelor of Nursing

Only one week into a placement in his second year of nursing studies at Flinders University, D’Arcy saw at close range the impact that COVID-19 was having on South Australia’s medical services.

‘People were on edge and they weren’t comfortable about having students around, even though we needed to have that hands-on hospital experience,’ says D’Arcy.

‘I was in the stroke ward, and we were kept very safe, but there was so much uncertainty about what the restrictions meant for students. I really started worrying about whether this would push back my degree another year.’

Outside of studying, many other things were changing fast for D’Arcy due to COVID-19 restrictions, and not in a good way.

The hours at his part-time job supervising Out of School Hours Care were greatly reduced once lockdown kept many parents and school children at home.

As a SANFL footballer player with Sturt Football Club, D’Arcy’s extensive pre-season training was thrown into limbo and his match payments ceased when all matches and training was put on indefinite hold.

‘Suddenly it seemed like my whole world was closing down.’

Receiving a Matthew Flinders Scholarship helped D’Arcy in many ways – especially to maintain his car, which provides him with the essential transport to his current nursing placement at an Aged Care facility in Port Noarlunga.

‘It brought a degree of normality back to my life,’ he says. ‘It’s comforting to know the Flinders community is willing to look out for its students.’

He also reflects on his nursing placement at the frontline of medical response during COVID-19 as being of particular benefit.

‘I learned so much, so quickly, just from being in that environment. This is the line of work I want to be involved in, and through being in that pressure situation I understand that I can deal with it. It has really given me a lot of strength to move forward.’