Alumni Profile: Dr Karla Fenton, OAM
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Degree:
Medicine 1954 She has been an examiner in the Sexual Assault Medical Service at the Royal Hobart Hospital since its inception in 1990. |
Her interest in education and overseas learning resulted in her setting up "The Dr Karla Fenton Travelling Scholarship" at The University of Tasmania's Jane Franklin Hall and an Education Fund for the ADARDS Home for Alzheimer's Disease - both in perpetuity. For 13 years she was Secretary/Treasurer of the Medical Women's Society and for over a decade was Treasurer of the Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Society of Hypnosis. In her senior years, Karla's contribution to medicine and the Tasmanian community is outstanding and ongoing.
She was honoured as a Senior Australian of the Year finalist in 2004.
What does your work involve?
Presently I work as a Grief and Stress Counsellor, Medical Hypnotherapist
and Forensic Examiner in the Sexual Assault Medical Service.
What does a standard day at the office entail for you?
I do six to eight consultations with people recently bereaved,
someone just diagnosed with cancer, work with someone dying, have a
patient with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, see a child exhibiting
a recent onset of schizophrenia, a patient with panic attacks or Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder, marriage problems, depression, suicidal intent,
low self esteem, alcoholism, overweight, anorexia nervosa etc etc. Today
I had a university student who found a dead student outside the venue
for their party.
What’s the most difficult decision you have had to make
in your career?
There have been many but I think the most heart rending was to have
to refuse to help a woman I had cared for over many years, to terminate
her suffering. This is a conflict for me, as I believe that anyone at
the end of life and with no hope of a positive outcome, should be able
to choose the time that they decide when to quit.
What is the most enjoyable aspect of your job?
Almost everything about my job is enjoyable. That may sound strange,
but being able to help people in very stressful situations is a great
privilege. In 50 years I have had very few nasty episodes and they were
with personality disordered people or psychotics. My patients and I
forge a mutually beneficial relationship where we learn from each other.
What inspires you about your job/life?
How easy it is to make a change for the better in people’s lives.
What is the most stressful/difficult aspect of your job?
Dealing with the death of a young person – a 10 year old dying
of a brain tumour and the devastation of the parents etc is a challenging
situation.
What have been the most significant moments of your life, post-study?
After 50 years of working in an area I loved, to be validated by my
peers.
What are your career highlights?
The realisation of the privileges my education afforded me.
What are your strongest memories of life in Melbourne while
you were studying at the University of Melbourne?
How difficult it was to be away from home and poor. I worked to supplement
my extremely limited allowance.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Socialise and entertain.
Do you have any advice about life after study to pass onto
current students?
Don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today. There is so
much out there still to do and time runs out very quickly.
