Conversation in Isolation - Meet the Team

Editor: Seraphina Choong 

Following the well-received interview with Georgia, we are excited to have Dion, another member of the team to be here with us today.

• “Hello, would you like to introduce yourself and the year level you are in?”

My name is Dion and I am in my final year of medicine at Monash University.

• “How would you describe yourself in 3 words?”

Loyal, hard-working & quirky.

• “I understand that you have been working very hard with the team behind the scenes. Would you like to share with us why you have chosen to sign up and help out with ‘Conversation in Isolation’?”

Like many medical students in Victoria, I was sidelined from placement due to COVID. It was hard to watch social isolation strip away at the hearts of my communities. I remember Steph posting a callout on Facebook to see if anyone would be interested in forming a Facebook group called medical student helpers. This was at the inception – before Convo in iso took any form or shape. I joined the first meeting and loved the enthusiasm and vision. We chipped in ideas from baby-sitting for healthcare workers to grocery deliveries, but ultimately settled on phone support. It has been a pleasure working with everyone and simply amazing to see so many volunteers sign up!

•  “The whole process sounds amazing! Is there any advice you would like to give to aspiring volunteers?”

Patience! At the moment, we have a lot of volunteer callers. So, if you want to sign up to be a caller, we may have to repurpose your talents for community outreach or advertisements for the time-being. Once we have more community members sign up, then you can shift to calling, which may take some time!

•  “Is there anything that you look forward to as restriction eases?”

Scarf down a good pub feed – the stock standard parma with chips of course!

• “Speaking of food, if you could only eat one single dish for the rest of your life, what would it be?”

Not parma and chips….It would be roast pork Banh Mis!