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St John Ambulance Australia (NT) Inc.
Weekly Newsletter Tuesday 19 June 2007
Update on Anne-Marie and Martin
As most of you know we have two valuable staff members who are
currently battling cancer. - Anne-Marie Muscat and Martin Scaife.
This week we received an update on their progress which I thought
I would share with you.
Anne-Marie is much more settled with her current Radiation and
Chemo treatments and as she enters her 5th of 6 weeks she is
somewhat tired but can still “watch McLeod’s Daughters sipping on
a nice chilled white wine”. Anne-Marie finishes her treatment on 26
June and is hoping to return to Darwin very shortly after that.
Anne-Marie’s family will be moving back/to Darwin to help care for
her post treatment.
Martin has had his first op and now has “a bag” in place and he was
heard to say the other day that now “instead of people thinking he
is full of s#&t they will be able to see that he is”. His spirits are high
but he is taking a bit to get over the op and he is back to the doctor
on 18 June and hopefully he is straight into his Radiation and
Chemo treatment program (6 weeks). Martin has a long road ahead
of him and after this treatment there will be a recovery period and
then he will have an op to remove the problem and then further
Chemo is planned. The whole program will take between 9 and 12
months and maybe towards the end of it he will be able to do it
back home in Katherine or here in Darwin. Martin’s kids, thanks to
the generosity of the team in Katherine, are going to visit on 22
June and they can’t wait to see their “dad”.
St John has been able to secure a short term lease close to their
medical needs and when Anne-Marie returns Martin will move into
the unit. It is a 2 bedroom fully furnished unit located Unit 10/81-
85 Carrington Street Adelaide SA 5000 .
Our thoughts and prayers are with Anne-Marie, Martin and their
families during this difficult time.
Gwyn Balch
This week
V8 Supercars
National First Aid
Competitions 2007
Finke 2007
National Conference
Dates of Significance
Contacts
Frank Dunstan:
Newsletter editor
Phone 8988 6751
Mobile 0429 886751
Gwyn Balch:
Volunteer Services Co-ordinator [email protected]
Phone 8922 6205
Fax 8922 6259
Members Website
St John Ambulance Australia
www.stjohn.org.au/membsite
/stjohn_memindex.htm
Username: onestjohn
Password: member
Vollie News 19 June 2007
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V8 Supercars – transport for vollies
V8 Supercars are on again 22nd – 24th June.
All volunteers attending must be at Casuarina or Palmerston Centre at 0600 each morning for transport to the event.
Volunteers will be returned to these centres on completion of each day’s duty.
Superintendents are to inform their members of these arrangements and advise Craig Garraway names and numbers attending.
National First Aid Competitions 2007
The NT Team, Amanda McNeill, Glen Auricht and Geoff Kain and our Individual competitor, Kate
Anning will be representing the Territory at the National First Aid Competitions which will be held on
Saturday 22nd June, 2007.
This year the competitions will be held at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) in conjunction with an
Emergency Services Open Day organised by St John.
A team from New Zealand will be attending the competitions to contest the Trans-Tasman Cup.
Gwyn Balch
National Conference
From the Chief Commissioner’s News – 12th June 2007
We are fast approaching the National Conference, being held in Canberra from 21 to 25 June. I
thought I’d share some information with you about some of the pre-conference and conference
activities you might not be aware of.
Pre-conference Program
Participants in the Chancellor’s Leadership Development Program and Chancellor’s Youth Leadership
Development Program will make their end of program presentations to a select audience on Tuesday
19 June.
A series of national strategic meetings will be held on Wednesday 20 June. This includes the National
Board meeting and a range of meetings and workshops that relate to specific areas of St John
business.
Community Resilience and Youth and Community Workshops
Community Resilience describes communities that cope well and ‘bounce back’ when faced with
difficult situations, including emergencies and disasters.
St John has a long history of developing Community Resilience, both in Australia and abroad,
although it has never been expressed in this way.
Morning Session (0830-1230) – Community Resilience
The morning session of this workshop provides an opportunity for members of St John Ambulance
Australia and other stakeholders to gain an appreciation of:
The concept and importance of Community Resilience
How other organisations are working to support the development of more resilient communities
Vollie News 19 June 2007
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The opportunities for St John to support the development of more resilient communities
Presenters for the morning session:
Dr Neil Conn AO, St John Ambulance Australia.
Professor Frank Billson AO, Save Sight Institute.
Superintendent Rod Collins, Victoria Police.
Lee Howell, Surf Life Saving Australia.
Professor Paul Arbon AM, St John Ambulance Australia.
This will be followed by an interactive panel session involving all workshop attendees - a great
opportunity for workshop participants to share their ideas and learn from each other. Stephen
Horton, Chief Executive Officer, St John Ambulance Australia (Victoria) will join the presenters to
form the panel for this session.
The morning session will be facilitated by Roxy Cowie, CEO, St John Ambulance Australia (Tasmania).
Afternoon Session (1300-1630) –
Youth and Community
Following on from the morning workshop around building community resilience, this session will look
at community need and engagement from a youth perspective. Exploring the capacity of
organisations like St John to be relevant and responsive, discussion will also look at the importance of
being able to clearly articulate and promote the valuable contribution to community that
volunteering and youth development organisations can make.
The session will be divided into two parts;
In the first (1-3pm) speakers include;
Lee Howell, Surf Life Saving Australia – SLSA Cronulla project
Robert De Castella, SmartStart – engaging the community around health and obesity
Jessica Allen, Foundation for Young Australians – engaging with young people, the FYA, youth participation
Scope Of Practice
The St John Ambulance Australia Scope of Practice for Health Care Professionals has now been
released with hard copy and electronic versions distributed to all state and territory offices.
The Scope and its companion Clinical Practice Guidelines for Health Care Professionals have been
developed to provide a framework for Health Care Professionals who volunteer in Operations Branch
activities. This will ensure that they are confident about which of their skills they are able to use
when volunteering with St John. All of our Health Care Professionals will need to be accredited
against the Scope and CPGs.
These documents are the result of several years of hard work and I thank the following people for their immense efforts: Christine Barber, Ian Clark, Shirley Dyson, Alan Eade, Terry Jongen, Peter Le Cornu, Jenny Leeson, Mr Finlay Macneil, Stephen Miller, Lieutenant Colonel Geoff Newman-Martin, Professor John Pearn, Ian Pickering, Clair Strickland, Dr Peter Warfe, Dr Christopher Zeitz and Dr Kathryn Zeitz.
Vollie News 19 June 2007
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The second (3.30-4.30pm) involves a panel of St John members from a variety St John projects that
aim to engage the community including;
St John Juniors ‘School of the Air’ program – Helen Banu Lawrence
Bankstown Cadet Division (working with Moslem young men and women) – Christian Kunde
Tasmanian Youth Council’s project to offer first aid training for disadvantaged young people – Alison Hardwicke
ACT Project Survival – (basic resuscitation training in youth refuges) - TBC
NSW University Division – Rita Wing Tack So
1st palawa St John Junior Mob (West Moonah Aboriginal Children’s Centre) – Clair Arnold
The afternoon session will be facilitated by members of the Australian Youth Council, Jonathan
Haslett and Sally Hasler (TBC).
I look forward to reporting some of the outcomes and highlights of the conference and pre-
conference events in the next edition of Chief Commissioner’s News.
Dates of significance
Wednesday 20th June is World Refugee Day
The UN Refugee Agency, phone 1300 36 27 87
www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/events?id=3e7f46e04
Every year on June 20 the world honours the courage, resilience and strength of refugees. On this
sixth anniversary of the United Nations-designated World Refugee Day, thousands of organisations in
hundreds of countries will come together to focus global attention not only on the plight of refugees
and the causes of their exile, but also on their determination and will to survive and on the
contributions they make to their host communities.
Thursday 21st June is Global Motor Neurone Disease Day
Motor Neurone Disease Association of Australia, 02 9816 2077,
www.mndaust.asn.au/media.html
Friday 22nd June is Winter Solstice
Today marks the shortest day (in daylight hours) of the year in the southern hemisphere. Summer
Solstice in northern hemisphere.
Monday 25th - Friday 29th June is Burns Awareness Week
DHCS and NT Fire & Rescue Service, phone 08 8922 8409
Monday 25th - Sunday 1st July is Macular Degeneration Awareness Week
www.mdfoundation.com.au/
Macular Degeneration (MD) is the leading cause of blindness in Australia, affecting central vision. MD
is primarily age related and most frequently affects people over the age of 50. One in seven people
over the age of 50 are affected by the disease and the incidence increases with age. It is sometimes
referred to as Age Related Macular Degeneration or 'AMD'.
Vollie News 19 June 2007
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Finke 2007
Members from Alice Springs Cadet Division and a support crew of friends of members combined with
Paramedic Andrew Naden to provide the First Aid/Ambulance coverage at the main first
aid/evacuation post at Apatula Community for this years’ Finke Desert Race. The Cadet contingent
provided their own Finke Uniform to not only look like a team, but to promote the role that Cadets
and Volleys play at major events within Central Australia.
The Finke contingent comprised of:
Paramedic - Andrew Naden – Site OIC, T.O. Ian McKIE – Volley/First Aid Coordinator, D.O. Barbara
McKIE, D.O. Rebecca Jones, Cdt Ldr Jake Pietsch, Acting Cdt Ldr Melissa Golding, Cdt Sgts Caitlin
Iggleden & Michelle Ellis, Cdt Cpl Cassie Iggleden & from the Adult Division – Kate Anning. Our
valuable support crew comprised of Jakes mum, Steph’ and her brother Eric, Melissa’s friend *and
former TCK Cadet+ Caitlin and Nades’ better half - Rose.
Our camp site early Monday morning amidst
the camp fire smoke, dust and the roar of
early morning engine tune ups on bikes and
buggies.
This year we were lucky in that the wind and
the frost stayed away which otherwise made
for fairly comfortable conditions.
Vollie News 19 June 2007
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Melissa [R] with friend Caitlin assist an injured rider off the track to the first aid post.
Injuries ranged from blisters, fractured collar bones, sprains & strains, lacerations, abrasions,
dehydration, hypoglycaemia, fractured fingers, dust in the eyes through to sheer exhaustion.
Vollie News 19 June 2007
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Melissa Golding [above] in the thick of the action at the first aid post.
We had three doctors from Alice Springs Hospital support our crew, and special mention goes to
them not only for the work they did on scene, but for there fantastic support and encouragement of
the cadets. All three doctors [Anna, Dan & Anthony] went to great lengths to include the cadets in all
the consultations/treatments that they handled on scene, even allowing the cadets to be involved in
the follow-up treatment at Apatula Clinic.
Michelle Ellis cleaning up a lacerated chin that required stitches
Melissa assists Cassie Iggleden with taping up a rider’s hands
Jake Pietsch assists with monitoring a patient being treated for dehydration and exhaustion
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Figures aren’t official, but we estimate that over the course of the three days on scene, we probably
handled in the order of 150 casualties [including re-dressing of wounds etc].
Well done to Barbara and the camp support staff *Steph’, Eric & Caitlin+ for keeping us all fed and
watered over the weekend. The pavlova went down well on Sunday night [right Craig & Mick!] and
there was a seemingly endless supply of cakes and other goodies as well. Thanks to the great
support of a couple of Mums [Lou Iggleden & Lindy Griffith] who did some baking for us before we
left Alice Springs.
Vollie News 19 June 2007
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It wouldn’t be Finke without some last minute drama, and ours just happened to be about 7kms from
Kulgera on the return trip to Alice Springs.
Thanks to all involved for making my last major event with Ops’ Branch such a memorable one.
Goodbye and good luck – Ian McKIE – Regional Training Officer Cadets [Southern].