“It was surreal,” Camille said. “You’re learning from people who have built their careers around helping those who are hours away from the nearest hospital.  It felt meaningful the moment I arrived.” 

She didn’t have to wait long for her first real challenge. 

A call came through: a patient in a rural community with fourth degree burns needed urgent evacuation. Within minutes, the team was loading equipment into the aircraft and preparing several different treatment plans – because when you’re hours away from the nearest tertiary hospital, you don’t rely on just one backup. You rely on three. 

When they arrived at the small hospital, Camille felt the shift instantly. 
The room was tense. 
The patient was in pain. 
A family member was distressed. 
And every second mattered. 

The RFDS clinicians moved quickly with IV access, pain relief, stabilisation, rapid assessment. Camille’s role was to scribe, documenting every change, decision and intervention. 

Then the patient deteriorated. Sedation was needed and they had to get airborne for Perth immediately.  It was pressure filled, but Camille didn’t freeze. She recognised the scenario from her Murdoch simulation labs, those high pressure, scenario based sessions designed to prepare students for exactly this kind of moment. 

Her lecturers had seen her passion for rural and remote health early on and encouraged her to apply for the RFDS partnership program. That encouragement changed her course literally and figuratively. 

Because the placement didn’t just shape Camille as a nurse, it shaped where she wanted to live. 

Today, she’s based in rural WA, working directly with the communities that inspired her in the first place. She’s part of a movement that values connection over convenience, resourcefulness over routine, and compassion in the places that need it most. 

“It’s really, really special,” she said. 

Camille’s story is a reminder that nursing isn’t always about busy city wards and traditional pathways. Sometimes it looks like dusty airstrips, early‑morning flights, quick decisions and a team that makes you feel like you’re part of something bigger. 

And sometimes, it’s about discovering exactly where you’re meant to be, not in the place you expected, but in the one that needs you most.  

For Camille, that place just happened to be 20,000 feet above Western Australia, in a plane full of passion, purpose and the unmistakable feeling that she was stepping into her future.  

A future she’s now living, every single day. 

If you’re ready to find your future in nursing, explore Nursing at Murdoch University.