It Takes Heart
It Takes Heart is an unmissable podcast where healthcare workers share their honest and unique experiences from Australia’s frontline.
Discover real-life stories of passion and purpose, insight and inspiration from people on the inside and tales that are equal parts heart-warming, heart-wrenching and hilarious. It Takes Heart is co-hosted by cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment CEO Samantha Miklos and Head of Talent and Employer Branding Kate Coomber.
It Takes Heart
A Dentist's Family Adventure through a Neurodiverse Lens
Imagine balancing a thriving dental career while exploring the natural wonders of Western Australia and homeschooling your kids on the road...
In this episode of "It Takes Heart," we sit down with Ellen Rogers, a dedicated dentist currently working with Cornerstone in Geraldton. Ellen speaks about her life pivot to locum dentistry after a severe foot injury during pandemic lockdowns, reigniting her passion for her profession.
Ellen dives into the unique contributions of neurodivergent professionals in dentistry and the critical role of locum dentists in regional areas. She challenges stereotypes, showing how locum roles can drive tremendous growth and quality care in rural communities.
And then comes the adventures of her transformed home-life with her partner stepping into the stay-at-home dad where the couple crafted interactive curriculum that made education exciting and adaptable across six states and covering 10,000 kilometers!
Tune in for a heartfelt and inspiring episode that underscores the value of dedication, adaptability, and community in healthcare.
This episode of It Takes Heart has CEO of cmr Sam Miklos hosting alongside Head of Talent and Employer Branding, Kate Coomber.
We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso
More about Ellen's Charity of Choice:
ADA Dental Health Foundation
The Foundation's mandate is to improve the dental health of Australians who cannot easily access or afford dental care. The team around Australia coordinates the delivery of pro bono dental treatment to disadvantaged members of the community. Visit https://adadhf.org.au for more information.
Get to know cmr better!
Follow @ittakesheartpodcast on Instagram, @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment on Linked In, @cornerstonemedrec on TikTok and @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment on Facebook.
We care for the lan, we care for the energy. We care for our community. We care. Welcome to it Takes Heart. I'm Sam Miklos and I'm Kate Coomba. We hope you enjoy these incredible stories of healthcare professionals making a difference in communities across Australia and beyond. Through our conversations, we look to celebrate the spirit of community and care. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land who have long practised and shared ancient methods of healing, providing care and support for their communities with wisdom passed down through generations.
Kate Coomber:Join us as we explore what it truly means to take heart.
Sam Miklos:Okay, welcome. We are so looking forward today to spending time with Ellen Rogers, who's been locuming with Cornerstone since March 2023. Ellen is currently on locum as the dentist in charge in Geraldton, western Australia. She is loving the opportunities that she's having to give the community greater access to dental care. But what is particularly unique about Ellen's story is that she has been able to take her partner and her two young boys along with her on this adventure.
Sam Miklos:Growing up on Bribie Island in Queensland, ellen has wanted to be a dentist since she was 10, and her journey to where she is today has certainly taken many twists and turns. She spent 10 years in private practice, but lockdowns and a major foot injury brought a chance encounter with the Cornerstone Dental team. The team helped Ellen coordinate placements where family and work could go hand in hand. What a great opportunity. The team and our clients describe Ellen as a passionate, dedicated dentist who will always do the right thing no matter what, and in recent placement in Geraldton she has had such enormous value not only to the health service but the wider Geraldton community through a host of initiatives. Welcome Ellen to the it Takes Heart podcast.
Sam Miklos:Hi thank you so much for having me. You're so welcome. We're so excited to talk to you today, so I guess I'd really love to start understanding what does life look like for you and your family living and working in Geraldton, having come from Bribie Island and working in Geraldton, having come from Bribie Island, surprisingly, being on the absolute opposite side of the country.
Ellen Rogers:It's really similar to what I grew up in. It's this lovely little town with such a small-knit community, but just the environment is so welcoming. It's this beautiful beach town. It's always windy, like the wind doesn't, but um, that keeps it nice and cool. So people always say to me but wasn't it like 50 degrees?
Ellen Rogers:I was just about to say don't you get like 50 degree days there? Um, but yet it's, it's a dry heat. So, having grown up in queensland, where you really humid heat, um, which my partner hated, so he's loving the dry heat um getting down. We go down to the beach after work, um which, because we're on the west coast, the sun is setting a bit later so we can have a swim in the afternoon. We can enjoy the park with the kids after work, have a walk, have a, have a play, um, it's just such a nice relaxing time with with the kids, um, even to see the sunset on the weekends we're getting to explore the rest of the country, so we've never been over the side.
Ellen Rogers:You know, we've been able to drive up to Shark Bay, which apparently we shocked the locals because they were like, what do you mean? You just drove up to Shark Bay. We're like, well, we're going to have a swim. They're like that's a four-hour drive you went for a swim.
Ellen Rogers:That is so often the case, so the locals, just go and have a go. We went to the Pinnacles. We've been to Kalbarri, which is this absolutely beautiful national park, and the iconic Pink Lakes, so there's just so much to see. We've probably barely scratched the surface, but just it's a beautiful little town and we are enjoying each and every day.
Sam Miklos:I think that's an interesting point too. That people forget is you know, if you're going off on these locum opportunities, it's all the surrounding area that you can enjoy, and people say what am I going to do on the weekends? But there's so much to explore.
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, absolutely. On our previous trip to in Rockhampton, some of the locums were like, oh, we don't need a car, we don't, we just stay home. And I was like I'm sorry, what? So we found them in our car and we took them out to black down table lands and we found these rock pools and we're swimming in rock pools in june. Wow, it's queensland. So, yeah, it's fun, we're swimming, swimming in June. And it was such an amazing experience and they were all like we would have never done that if someone hadn't have thought to you know, drag us along On Rockenden's just off the coast, you've got your poon, your poon yeah.
Ellen Rogers:You've got the beaches, so it was just wonderful to go exploring every weekend.
Kate Coomber:So I guess let's go back to maybe March last year, in 2023. You responded to an email from the team, I believe, expressing interest in locum work. I understand at the time it was a little bit challenging, maybe for you and the family, maybe in a bit of a rut, perhaps I guess what prompted you to respond and maybe to look at those opportunities yeah, I'm like.
Ellen Rogers:I'll be honest, I probably had a lot of cornerstone emails in my yeah.
Ellen Rogers:I saw there was many oh no, like what I'm in private practice, this, this is what I do. Um, and I just was. Yeah, I was at this major crossroads. I I'm so passionate about dentistry but I didn't know how I was going to be able to keep that passion going. I, I could not see how I was going to be able to keep being a dentist with the way I was working. I would. I was literally coming home and just wanting to lay there and do nothing. I, I was so at an absolute loss.
Sam Miklos:Ellen, was it the work in private practice or was it the hours? Like what was it?
Ellen Rogers:I think it was the private practice. I felt like my values were aligning with the work I was doing. That's probably the easiest way to put it and at that point in time I didn't know that I was autistic, adhd and having that diagnosis now I've realized there is so much um in being aligned with with values. And having that alignment in work and values just allows me so much more um sort of ability to just get up and go each day and when that, when those values aren't aligned, I just I can't do it. I cannot do it. And meeting with with Ruben and having that conversation, he actually listened to my needs. In that moment I felt heard. I felt heard and he took the time to listen to what was causing me concern and he found ways to accommodate those. So I said I can't do this without the family. He found me ways to do it with the family and for people who know me, they know once I've sort of set my mind to it, I'll find a way to do it.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, it sounds like within eight weeks you were in Rockhampton, you were out of there Within eight weeks of that chat with Reuben and the team. Yeah, you were there, you were off to Rockhampton. You were out of there within eight weeks of that chat, that chat with Reuben and the team you were off to Rockhampton. Now in Geraldton I guess you just touched on there for the family of. How did that work, I guess? Talk to us about that. How, how's it been possible to take your family with you?
Ellen Rogers:yes, like I would probably say a little bit is like a lot of it, sorry, is to do with the fact that I have an amazing partner. So since the start of the pandemic he's been uh, our stay-at-home dad. When COVID hit, I was pregnant with our second child and when he was born we both went. We really don't feel comfortable putting him straight into daycare. Yeah, my partner's contract had wrapped up in his role and he didn't want to go back into the workforce. He's like can I stay home with the kids? And I was like oh my gosh.
Sam Miklos:yes, please, yes, yes, you can.
Ellen Rogers:Let me go back and you stay home. And so he took over the school runs, the day-to-day house running. He even ended up becoming the school vice president. I'm PNC vice president and was doing all this volunteer work, but I could see that he was getting burnt out.
Ellen Rogers:The kids were really struggling with that day-to-day of going to school and just really getting worked up about being at school and what we felt they needed was something different, something that excited them about learning, and we thought, with going on the road, we could do homeschool. So, my partner we're both fairly well educated, we both have parents who have raised us well, with lots of really wonderful opportunities and we jumped on and looked at some homeschool programs. So within a few weeks we had developed a curriculum for the boys. We'd applied to the homeschool board in Queensland at the time because that's where we worked and it had been accepted. So we were able to pull them out of school, have them registered with homeschool and there was this wonderful company called Homeschool in a Box, yep, and they sent you all the things you needed for homeschool literally in a box.
Ellen Rogers:Wow.
Kate Coomber:I don't think people would think it was that quick.
Ellen Rogers:It was all in curriculum written down and then it was like here's all the scissors, paper, books, pencils in a box. Off we went. But what I changed in terms of their lesson plan was what can we do with where we're going?
Ellen Rogers:So we're like okay, remember're in Rockhampton for this first bit. Let's make the lessons about something to do with Rockhampton Wonderful. So we went looking for thunderheads and we would go out to the Capricorn Caves and we would just try to make learning more interactive and more focused. And that, I think, is what really allowed us to take the kids with us, because it was about focusing on what was around us and what was with us as we went. We put everything in a little box trailer and we got in the car and we went. We went. What do we need? We don't need a lot Kids don't need a giant house full of stuff. They need some clothes, they need some toys, they need some parents that are paying attention to what they're doing. Yeah, and that's what we took with us um.
Kate Coomber:Have you found the accommodation going to those locations has been provided, and was it accessible?
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, it has been Like it's been wide and varied in the types of accommodations. We made sure that our phone plans were set up so that we've always had internet, even if it wasn't something that was provided at the accommodations, that was provided at the accommodations They've always had, you know, cooking facilities. I have pretty severe food allergies, so even when we go I already have my own basic pots and pans that I take, because even if, cooking with other pots and pans I can get sick, so that all comes with us. Um, we've just got a standard little camping box that we pack.
Ellen Rogers:Um, I actually even take a compressor, dental drills and an entire dental dummy because I take my study with me as a locum, which most people think is really strange, but it allows me to continue doing my training course while I'm on the road too, which that goes in the trailer with us and it travels around the country and I can do virtual classes while on the road. So we've had no issue. Our kids being young, they still want a share of a bed. Yeah, yeah.
Ellen Rogers:Which works really well, because most places will have a double bed in the other room and they happily share a room together. So we've had absolutely no issue with any of the accommodation that we've been given. It's been wonderful.
Sam Miklos:And what about when? Because at Geraldton now the boys are in school. How did you get the boys into school? Like coming from Rockhampton, did you drive from Rockhampton to Geraldton with the car, the trailer, we?
Ellen Rogers:had a few months back at our house in Queensland. I was doing some private locum work just back in private practice for a little bit, where we were packing up the house, sorting out what we're doing, because initially it was like we're just going to Geraldton for a month.
Kate Coomber:Yeah.
Ellen Rogers:We flew over to Geraldton and we were here and again still homeschooling the boys, thinking it was just a short contract. But we enjoyed it so much that we went well, we'll finish the contract, but how about we come back for the new year? Then my partner goes. I'm really struggling with having them home all the time.
Sam Miklos:Can the?
Ellen Rogers:youngest start kindy, and the youngest has never been in any form of anything.
Sam Miklos:He's been in a.
Ellen Rogers:COVID lockdown.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, I've got one of those.
Ellen Rogers:He's been in a lockdown for four years and my partner was like it might be time to let him hang around other kids. So we flew home the day before christmas 2023 um, christmas with the family, packed up the trailer and I think we left the day after boxing day and spent 10 days driving across the country to come all the way back to g Geraldton. And in that time um, just before we left to get back to Queensland, I'd madly been emailing schools that we would fall in the catchment. For yeah, it was like um, we will be in the area in the new year, can can we fill in a form? And they were like oh, we close tomorrow. So I was like filling in paperwork then he's the form.
Sam Miklos:Here's the paperwork.
Ellen Rogers:Then he were like, yes, you can have a spot, you're in the catchment, come down in the new year. It was actually quite an easy process because they were like, yeah, you fall in the catchment, you'll be here. They were very helpful. So both boys now go to the local school. That's about two blocks away from the house. How amazing. Some days they even walk to school.
Ellen Rogers:To be honest, it's the nicest school, wow. Nicest littlest, coziest little school I've ever seen. And the teachers are all trained in special education needs. Uh, we have, we believe both our boys, um, are on the spectrum. Uh, take after me. Yeah, and the teachers picked up on that straight away. Yeah, they. I hadn't even shared my diagnosis with them, but they were like, any chance, you've considered this with your boys? And I was like, okay, they're picking up stuff, but they don't exclude children with that. They don't put them in a different area and make them do different work. It's just part of everyone's learning. They accommodate everyone and it was so nice to see that that was just part of the curriculum and it wasn't. They weren't treated differently and they've had such a wonderful experience.
Sam Miklos:Tell us a little bit more about, I guess, the impact that that experience has had on the family. You know, looking back now on what you've experienced, what's the impact been?
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, it's just been so amazing to have had this opportunity to be able to say I've taken my kids out of school. I've taken them. I think last year we actually ended up taking them to six different states. We travelled 10,000 kilometres. Wow, because some of that was we were just doing our own driving around. But we just love being able to show them this beautiful country that we live in.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, and do you Sitting at home? It's so true, and there's been a lot of memorable moments. There's got to have been some challenging times too. You know the good, the bad, the ugly. What has been hard about this journey.
Ellen Rogers:Yes, there are definitely some challenges where you know the rainy days and you're just stuck at home and the kids are running around like yeah and it's loud and you just need a moment to chill out and your partner is going. I've been at home with them all day like I need a break. I don't have any of my friends here. I want to go home. Yeah and yep.
Ellen Rogers:Sometimes you have to say okay, now we've reached the limit of this contract yeah we've time time to go home, yep, um, or just it's just finding in that area ways to make sure you're still getting recharge time, and recharge time for your kids and recharge time for your partner.
Kate Coomber:It's, it's just making sure everyone's needs are being met, and that certainly can be challenging when you're new to the area and you've probably probably you've probably prioritized the kids right and making sure that they're settled into schools of their community and that they can find happiness, because obviously our roles are all a lot more pleasant when they are happy and thriving. And I guess the next step potentially for you guys sounds like what's then your circle look like and what's going to fill up your cup in those times.
Sam Miklos:So, Ellen, let's talk about your career. What was it that inspired you to become a dentist in the first place?
Ellen Rogers:Yes, and as you said in your intro, I have wanted to be a dentist Forever. I grew up with two parents in healthcare. My mum was a dental therapist she worked in the school vans in Queensland and my dad was a critical care paramedic for the last part of his career but prior to that, a fireman, prior to that, a mind rescue, like. He's just always been in sort of helping people's fields and I knew I wanted to do something that would be helping people.
Ellen Rogers:I wanted to do something that would be helping people and my mum would come home from work and tell me about the kids that were crying and the kids that were upset, and one particular story was this kid she had to pull some teeth out on and the mum being like oh why, why are their teeth rotten? I feed them those little bananas and I give them juice, and they didn't understand why their kids' teeth had broken down. Mum goes what do you mean? Little bananas? She said they come in the packet, they're really good price. She didn't realise that they were just lollies and, unfortunately, the education around what to feed their kids and how to look after their teeth was just lacking it just hadn't gotten through and I think I was, yeah, somewhere between 10 or 12 years old and I went.
Ellen Rogers:these poor, these people don't understand, no one's taught them. And now their kids are scared and upset about going to the dentist. And I knew that I had loved going to the dentist.
Ellen Rogers:I even had teeth out and not been scared because of the way my parents had explained it to me and shown it to me, so I knew I wanted to create that experience for others, and so everything from high school onwards was what can I do to make sure I get to be that person when I grow up? Um, I think some of my high school teachers were probably a little bit scared. I had some cow teeth experiments from my high school. Yes, some of them. One of them actually turned up to be a patient one day. Oh wow, so they can't have been too scared.
Ellen Rogers:No, yes, I love that Like a nickname, tooth girl in high school.
Sam Miklos:What about, though, ellen? Then? Because you're in private practice and I think that can be daunting for candidates to think I might want to go and locum, but I'm not going to locum in private practice how easy did you find that transition from private practice to then working in regional health services?
Ellen Rogers:Well, I didn't find it difficult at all but to be honest, growing up I only thought I would ever work in public health. When I first graduated. I started in public health but due to some really difficult life events soon after graduating, I really quickly transitioned into private practice and found such a lovely little private clinic that I then kind of didn't leave again for nine years and where I then ended up I was like this isn't really where I envisioned my dental career, yeah. So it was more like I moved back into what I thought I would be working in and so it didn't feel foreign to me to go back into. If anything, it felt more comfortable than where I had been. I felt more in my element and less like a fish out of water when you were supposed to be and less like a fish out of water than where you were supposed to be.
Sam Miklos:And I guess there's that perception. You know that as a locum you may not get, you know, the career progression that you would have as a permanent employee or you might not actually be able to have an impact on the community that you're working. But that's not been the case for you at all and certainly not at the role that you're in at Geraldton. You know you're holding a leadership position. You've been able to introduce some big initiatives there. Can you tell us a little bit about the impact that you've been able to have locuming in these roles?
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, and yes, I'd certainly agree that there is that perception that locums don't have an impact or perhaps maybe aren't necessarily very good at what they do. They move around too much how?
Sam Miklos:can they?
Ellen Rogers:how can they have an impact? Um, whilst what I've always tried to do in in coming into a place is make sure that I'm making sure that what I'm doing is the best I can for the patients while I'm there, that I'm speaking up if I see something that isn't necessarily being done to the best evidence and not because I'm trying to say someone is doing something wrong and not because I'm trying to say someone is doing something wrong. I just want to share what I know. So make sure that you know anything that I might have learned over the years. I'm taking that time to share it with others and then giving as much time as I can to those people while I'm there. So if I have that opportunity to stay longer while I do my best to stay longer, because so often, especially in regional areas, they haven't had, yeah, some. So it's trying to stay um longer and be consistent so that it's not chopping and changing all the time. So some of the things that I've been able to do really soon within starting, I was asked to be a supervisor of dental students, so really rapidly then I was then watching fifth-year dental students to help guide their learning and their training, and that sort of shocked me because I did not think as a locum I would get that opportunity so quickly.
Ellen Rogers:And then what I noticed in one of those roles is you've got nitrous oxide equipment just sitting in a cupboard. Why is that not being used? Oh, no, one here has training in that. I've got 10 years of training in that. Here's my certificates. Am I allowed to use it? You've got training in that. I've got 10 years of training in that. Here's my certificates. Am I allowed to use it? He's got training in it. Yes, you're allowed to use that. And so within a few weeks we had been able to start getting patients who had been sitting on a GA list that was non-existent because they didn't have an ether to set that hospital very regularly. And we could get anxious patients in who weren't being able to be treated because they were too scared. But we could get the nitrous oxide and we could get their dental work done.
Ellen Rogers:That's amazing and very suddenly those nitrous appointments were like three times a week.
Sam Miklos:I was going to say I bet that became a busy list.
Ellen Rogers:But then, because people saw me using it, other people were like wait, that's all you need to do to use nitrous. Oh, how do you do the training? I'm like this is how you do the course and it so rapidly became other people just going off and doing the training and then more people know how to use it and that equipment then gets utilised even after I'm gone.
Sam Miklos:Like it's your legacy that you've essentially left there.
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, and then what that has led to is, yeah, I'm now in a leadership role, I'm managing an entire region. I've got anyone we come across, four or five different clinics, prison and we've been able to develop a GA list over here in an area that's not had a public dental GA list before, and the team here had already started developing it but they didn't have a dentist to start implementing it, and so I've been able to get credential with the hospital.
Ellen Rogers:We've set up all the instrument packs and then we started getting the patients through, and mostly it's children who have been so anxious and and uncooperative because of their anxiety that they've been sort of left in limbo. Well, you could go to purse, but that's really hard for people to just go to birth and wait on them, and expensive as well.
Ellen Rogers:By that point their teeth have often gotten worse and they're in pain and we do a list of months, but we're able to get more frequently as it's been growing and it's just been an amazing opportunity to see this be developed and to be able to offer it to people, to be able to keep them closer to home and not have them traveling where we can. It's not for everyone, because we're a regional hospital and they can't take every case, but it's just excellent that it exists for patients.
Kate Coomber:We were going to ask about the differences that you've seen and experienced between regional areas versus metro areas and what's available and and is there a real difference in dental care? And I guess you've just highlighted there some of the key differences of accessibility, but you've really already had that impact to make that more accessible.
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, and there is a huge difference. There's often very few specialists that come out to the regional areas and, to be fair, there's often few specialists across the country in some fields.
Ellen Rogers:Yeah and few specialists across the country in some fields, in special needs, there's only, I believe, 25 special needs dentists in the whole country. Wow, I know there's more that are graduating, so the number's probably slightly more but across that whole country you can't expect to have one in each regional town. So being able to help patients who have special health care needs in terms of being able to access a GA locally or just being able to have connections and knowing who to call for a consult to help patients, so that if there is a way we can manage them locally, it helps improve their access to care and that patients who might not have great mobility or access to travel are still getting care, they're still getting seen. We're helping with their communication and their sensory needs and their coordination with their doctors. Just being able to offer that because we've taken the time to do that training.
Ellen Rogers:Sometimes, if you don't know, you don't know to offer it.
Kate Coomber:And I guess you've had that personal experience as well. It sounds like you talked there about your own diagnosis of autism and ADHD, I believe. I guess how has that impacted you, if at all, professionally?
Ellen Rogers:I feel like it was a light bulb moment for me because for years I've always been passionate about helping anxious patients and felt like I could always pick up on the vibes.
Ellen Rogers:I guess of patients and could, without them saying anything, could tell they're not really feeling very comfortable right now. Maybe someone would be quite aggressive a counter or aggressive, but really it came down to that something wasn't being accommodated for them. Either they didn't understand something, something was bothering them, they were scared, they were uncomfortable. But you could sit. I felt like I could sense it, and it always allowed me these opportunities to sit and talk with a patient, listen to a patient and find a way to make them feel more comfortable, and then, having that diagnosis, I went.
Ellen Rogers:This makes so much more sense. I am just picking up on things differently. I read the room differently to other people. I read the room differently to other people. I'm noticing things differently to other people, and it's not a bad thing, it's not anything in that way, but it's just allowed me to connect with patients differently and it's made me think of problems from a different point of view, um, and I think it's really helped in my career because I've been able to connect with a lot of really really um, generally what people call difficult patients, but they're not difficult they're just not.
Ellen Rogers:People haven't realized that's what has been making them feel uncomfortable about coming to the dentist just need to be understood yeah, and I think that is what has made me so feel so passionate about making sure I stay in dentistry like I have struggled with chronic pain, I've struggled with burnout, but I always want to come back. I never. I think there was a point early in my career where I ended up in two hand braces because I had really severe tendinitis and I'm still dragging myself into work and I would take the hand braces off. I had really severe tendinitis and I'm still dragging myself into work to take it and I would take the hand braces off and go nothing is here and everyone's like.
Ellen Rogers:You need to rest. And that's probably one of the hardest parts is I'm not the best at listening to my body and I've realized now with this diagnosis, that that's the part that I struggle with. Um, is um just actually listening to what my body needs? Um, but the rest is like oh. That's why my brain is never quiet. That's why there's always a spider web of thoughts going what, what's happening with this? What's, what's my next plan for that? Are they thinking of 10 million different things at once?
Kate Coomber:it finally just makes sense that my whole life was, was just a lot of noise in my brain sounds like a lot of clarity came from that for you to really understand and also where you need to be and what you need to be doing to get the best for you. Do you see that there's opportunities, or what opportunities do you see to better support neurodiversity?
Ellen Rogers:in dentistry. There's so many opportunities. I personally think there's actually a lot of dental professionals who are neurodivergent in some way, whether that be autism, adhd combination or other types of neurodivergent. I feel like dentistry itself lends itself to autism and ADHD as a career, because it both has this lovely routine to it but this great new and different things every day. So I do my systematic thinking, but I never know what's going to come through the door. Friday afternoon three o'clock I've got a facial trauma, but let's follow the trauma guide and we'll split their teeth and thankfully they were okay. That was last.
Kate Coomber:Friday. That was until 7.
Ellen Rogers:But it's also important then, from an employer's perspective, to make sure they're looking at work accommodations like presentations, learning environments, meeting environments Like. Are we looking at learning and meetings in an accessible way? Are we providing information in accessible ways? Are we allowing people to work in ways that are beneficial for everyone? Are the work environments accessible?
Ellen Rogers:The industry has some pretty horrible environments. It's a big bear Like. They have these bright overhead lights and these noisy, noisy drills, and that then leads into wanting to look after the patients. They're sitting there in the most vulnerable position, running back now, running lights in their eyes. Are we making sure we've got some dark glasses? Are we offering them something for their ears or reminding them they can bring something for themselves, something to keep them comfortable?
Ellen Rogers:And then you know just as simple as looking to your own website and going are we using our own pictures? Have we got photos of the team? Have we got um photos of the clinic or a virtual tour so that people can jump on before they come in and get familiar with the environment, and if we've got a map of where to park, how to find a front door, maybe a letter that goes out to patients that says what we expect on your first visit, or little social stories that sort of explain what happens for a plane, and just little things like that that can really make someone's experience with coming to visit you a little bit less daunting because they have something in their mind already, whereas if you've got this really generic website, it doesn't show any photos, it doesn't show what you look like or how to find you. Um, someone who is neurodivergent probably isn't going to want to come there because it's too unknown and it's too daunting and they'll just find somewhere different or they'll avoid it altogether.
Sam Miklos:Sounds like there's. I was just going to say, because even in Geraldton, am I right, that you have also created like a five-page induction program as well to make it easier for locums or anyone as such coming to the service?
Kate Coomber:so small adjustments, by the sounds of it, that have such huge impact on other people.
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, I found it. Um, I couldn't find the clinic on the first day. Yeah, I didn't know where it was, um, and so I was like, well, if I don't know where it was, how will I, how will other locums know where it is? And so I walked around and I took some photos and made some like Google Maps screenshots and links and just wrote a little blurb and then said, am I allowed to send this out when we have a new staff member coming? And they were like you made this. And I was like, oh, it's just a little something. But they were like, yes, please send that out. That's amazing, ellen. Yeah, all of our clinics are on school properties so they're really hard to find. They're not like you can't write into Google the address because it just puts up the school Right. And trying to find the therapy centres is a little bit confusing if you're new to town and you also don't know the schools or the area.
Sam Miklos:So, yeah, I thought that would just be a bit more helpful. That's amazing, ellen. Your experience is so unique and special. Actually, you are so unique and special. Like just talking to you has just been amazing. If a working healthcare professional is listening to this podcast now and going, oh, do I do this? Do I take a sea change or a tree change, what would you say to them? Let's say, do it like just get in there.
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, you don't know. You don't know what tomorrow holds Like. None of us know where we will be. We don't know how long we have. If you're thinking of doing it, if you want something different, if you're wanting to travel, just do it. You can't sit around saying I'll do it when my kids graduate, I'll do it.
Kate Coomber:There's never a good time is there.
Ellen Rogers:Because we're not guaranteed that time. Yeah, we honestly don't know how long we have, and that was a really big factor in us deciding to just go and do something different.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, look, we thank you so much for being so open, so candid and really sharing your story. We're going to shine a light on a charity close to your heart today as well, and CMR are donating $500 to that charity. Can you tell us a little bit about what charity you've chosen and why?
Ellen Rogers:Yeah, I've chosen the ADA Dental Health Foundation. They seek to improve the dental health of Australians, especially ones who can't afford dental care. They work with pro bono dental treatment plans, with dental volunteers, through registered charities and not-for-profit agencies. So one of their programs in particular is called the Rebuilding Smiles Program, which rebuilds smiles for patients affected by family and domestic violence. They fund these programs and encourage the better oral health outcomes to reduce inequality across Australia, as well as looking at programs to improve education within the community. So they do community service grants, first Nations study grants and oral health education programs. That's amazing, fabulous fabulous.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, thank you. It's so nice to really hear about these organizations and charities that people may not have come across before, and to not only donate the money but really to highlight them and to to share people, to to really raise that awareness. We thank you so much for sharing. Look, it's been so nice to talk to you and I think that that your story really is going to be an inspiration for others. I think there'll certainly be other people listening who may not be as open with themselves or others as you have been, and I think we really thank you for that, because I think the impact you can have more broadly across dentistry and the healthcare community, I think is huge. So thank you so much for everything you've shared with us today.
Ellen Rogers:Thank you so much for having me.
Sam Miklos:It's been a pleasure. Thanks, Ellen. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to share, rate and review. This allows us to reach more people and share more incredible stories. Click the follow or subscribe button to ensure you never miss an episode.
