Remote nurse Josh Stafford

Interviews from the Frontline

As a young registered nurse, Josh Stafford took a six-week contract in the Far North Queensland town of Aurukun to make a bit of money. But by day 3 on the job, he'd fallen in love with it and knew this was the type of nursing he was meant to do. So while money took him there, it was the people, the diversity, the freedom and acuity that has kept him nursing in remote communities for close on 16 years. Today, Josh is the Director of Nursing for Lockhart River and Coen, a small, predominantly Indigenous community in northern Queensland with a population close to 700. We talk to Josh about his job as a nursing leader in a rural town, his early career nursing in big cities and how he spends his days off.