Alex Harris was studying medicine in Perth in the early 2000s when he signed up for a new program sending fifth-year students to study in regional Western Australia.
Dr Harris had grown up in Orange Grove, an area home to hobby farms on the outskirts of Perth, but wouldn't describe himself as a "country kid."
"The prospect, even in those early days when we didn't know much about it, of coming to a country town for a whole year, particularly the chance of coming to Broome, really enthused me," he said.
Not long after arriving in Broome in 2004, Dr Harris was put to work suturing emergency department patients and helping with surgeries.
"Doing the anaesthetics, as well as delivering the babies and helping with the surgery, I thought that was just an excellent, broad job with so many exciting bits that it wouldn't ever get boring," he said.
"Early on, probably throughout that year, I really thought that was the job that I wanted to pursue."
Enter Cathy
In 2004 Broome's Rural Clinical School (RCS) students lived in a large block of flats, not far from the local hospital.
Cathy Larkin, a pharmacist, was living there too. She was a keen runner but it was well known Alex Harris was not.
So when he started running tens of kilometres a week, his friend and fellow RCS Broome graduate, Michael Collin, knew something was up.
"[He] literally ran a Broome marathon for her," Dr Collin said.
Fast forward 18 years and it seems his efforts certainly paid off.
Alex and Cathy Harris, as she's now known, have been married for 14 years and have three children.
Cathy Harris eventually became a doctor too and for several years the couple moved around Australia, living and working in various towns and cities.
"We probably both always had a plan to come back and settle down here [in Broome] and raise a family," Dr Harris said.
"Once we had our second child in Tasmania, in the middle of winter and it was dark and cold, we thought, 'Bugger this', so we made plans for the next year to come back."
The couple has been back in Broome for seven years and Alex Harris is a district medical officer at Broome Hospital.
He works in the emergency department and on the wards and does some anaesthesia.
Two of Dr Harris's fellow 2004 Broome RCS graduates are also working in the regions.
Jared Watts is the head of obstetrics and gynaecology for the WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Kimberley at Broome Hospital, and WACHS director of obstetrics and gynaecology.
Megan Hardie (nee Rose) is a GP in WA's wheatbelt.
Dr Harris said he and his peers looked back on their time in Broome fondly and he didn't think he would be working in Broome now if he hadn't participated in the RCS program.
"It's one of those jobs that you really have to experience to understand," he said.
'An amazing success'
Dr Harris was one of the earliest graduates of the Rural Clinical School of Western Australia (RCSWA).
Established in 2002, it now sends a quarter of all medical students in WA to a rural site for a year's placement.
RCSWA's director Andrew Kirke said it was one of 19 rural clinical schools around Australia.
He said data showed students who did the WA program had about a 50 per cent chance of returning to the regions.
"Whether it's a 10-week term as an intern, or half a year, or a year … usually on average it's about a year," he said.
Dr Kirke said the chance of students doing a long-term placement (five to seven years) was smaller, at 25 per cent, but still "significant."
"If you're staying that long, you're probably going to stay even longer," he said.
A snap poll conducted in the middle of the year for the last couple of years showed around 140 RCSWA graduates were employed regionally at the time of the survey, Dr Kirke said.
"The people that started it (RCSWA), had the vision at the beginning, I think they saw what it could be," he said.
"I don't know that the rest of us did.
"I think it's been an amazing success."
