Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
July 2017
Manager’s Note
In early June I was lucky enough to go back to Fiji, as I did in 2015 and
volunteer on a building project in the village of Solovi. We were there to build
a centre for the children to meet after school for homework club, amongst
other uses. Solovi itself is really just a collection of houses amongst the
sugar cane fields. Some people have a few cows that graze for feed and are
used for fresh milk which is rarely available in the local supermarket. There is
a local store but nothing else.
As we drive to the building site in the mornings we see children in pristine uniforms and
cane workers carrying machetes walk along dusty tracks to the main road to catch buses
to school and other cane fields. Local produce is often sold by the roadside and sellers
sit on the ground in the heat patiently waiting
for customers. My lifestyle of plenty is in stark
contrast to all I see but the people in Fiji are the
warmest, friendliest and happiest people I have
ever met. As with the last time I went to Fiji, I
left with much more than I gave. Their gratitude
towards us is worth more than gold and
diamonds.
Below are a few photos of the build in progress
and the finished product and also a photo (a
bad one!) of my husband and me after
receiving the special thankyou necklaces made by
the locals. The experience reminds me how
important it is for us as human beings to have
opportunities to give and how wonderful it is to
hear a word of thanks.
Thank you once again for all you do.
Lis Brittan
Manager, WCHN Volunteers
2
Welcome to New Volunteers
The following volunteers have commenced with the Volunteer Unit since March 2017. We give you a warm
welcome and thank you for your commitment to volunteering with the WCHN.
Abigail Beattie
Tim Brooks
Sabine Cavus
Bob Cooper
Laura De Gregorio
Kahli Gifford
Frankie Gogler
Nikeisha Klein
Alsion Kungel
Ernestina Lippett
Jacqui Liu
Ruchi Mathur
Nili McGrath
Talia Monterosso
Anne Pham
Nadia Pirintzis
Julie-Anne Rogers
Paulina Scrzypek
Thea Sison
Robyn Stevenson
Emma Taylor
Susan Taylor
Emmarose Thompson
Laura Vicario
Dharshinie Vimalanathan
Joanne Wedding
Paediatric Outpatients Department
Kate Hill Ward/ Recovery & Anaesthesia
Rose Ward Family Support
Guide Team
Paediatric Outpatients Department
Paediatric Outpatients Department
Guide Team
Paediatric Outpatients Department
My Time
Paediatric Outpatients Department
Newland Ward
Helen Mayo House
Paediatric Outpatients Department
Fabio Programme
My Time
Guide Team
Guide Team
Multiple Births Unit
Paediatric Outpatients Department
Fabio Programme
Heritage and History Group
Fabio Programme
Rose Ward General Support
Paediatric Outpatients Department
Guide Team
Human Resources
3
My experiences as a WCHN volunteer
Public Transport
Ticketing Programme
If you hold a concession card and travel to
and/or from your volunteering during peak hours,
you should be eligible to participate in the public
transport ticketing programme.
We need to sight your concession card and will
then issue you with either single tickets or a
mulltitrip ticket, depending on how frequently you
volunteer with us.
If you would like more information, please speak
to Lis, Cynthia or Linda.
A year ago I decided I wanted to volunteer in my community. I decided the WCHN would be a great place to
offer my time and energy. When I was contacted by Lis she explained WCHN were recruiting new members
to join their Guide Team. I must be honest; it wasn’t a role I had previously considered – I was looking for
something more ‘hands-on.’ However, I was willing to give it a go.
Every week as a member of the Guide Team exceeds my initial expectations of the role. We have an
important job to provide to WCHN consumers. We listen, we are patient, we problem solve, we find better
solutions, we work our hardest to ensure we are culturally competent and sensitive. But most importantly, we
offer a different experience for consumers who may be visiting the hospital under stressful circumstances.
I feel privileged to be able to be one of the first faces consumers meet as they enter the hospital doors. I
have learnt so much as a Guide Team volunteer, and acquired many transferable skills I know will be
extremely valuable in my future.
By Emily Votino
Important dates to remember
WCHN Volunteers Service Awards 2017
2.00 pm, Friday 1st September 2017
Presentation of awards
Guest Speaker
Afternoon tea to follow
Launch of WCHN Volunteer Strategy
Monday 18 September 2017
Person and Family Centred Care Week
18 September - 22 September 2017
WCHN Volunteers Christmas Luncheon
12.00 noon for 12.30 pm, Friday 8 December 2017
4
It’s flu season!
$1.4 million grant to treat brain injury
The Paediatric Rehabilitation Department has been awarded a $1.4 million grant over three-years, by the
Lifetime Support Authority (LSA) for brain injury treatment and research.
Many of you would know that the LSA provides funding to care for people seriously injured in road acci-
dents in South Australia. This grant will fund a program for children and young people with mild to moder-
ate brain injury who previously had difficulty is accessing support services. They will have access to therapy
and medical support from a new team based at WCH.
The program will be state-wide and will include cutting edge “tele-rehabilitation” services to support families,
assisting about 30 children and young people each year to return to school and resume recreational activi-
ties. Previously, many of these children have missed lengthy periods of school, due to difficulties in dealing
with their brain injuries. These injuries can often have few physical signs but nonetheless symptoms can be
quite disabling.
Increasing school and community awareness of brain injury will be additional benefits to flow from this pro-
gram.
The new program complements work already underway in our inpatient and ambulatory rehabilitation pro-
grams. Our consumers will play an important role in the process design of the team and its work in the
community.
Congratulations to Dr James Rice and his team in the Paediatric Rehabilitation Department on securing this
funding to expand the important work they do.
Reprinted from Around our Region
You will find more information about the work of Paediatric Rehabilitation on the back page.
The unit recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary.
It’s not too late to get a flu vaccination
The WCH central flu clinic in the ‘Old Brookman Ward’ is now
closed, but if you missed out on having your flu vaccination, you can still receive it until December 2017
from the WCHN WHS Clinical Team, Level 1, Michell Building. Just ask Linda or Cynthia to make an
appointment, either on the day you are next volunteering in the WCH or if you are a community
volunteer, on a convenient day for you. Clinic hours are Mon-Fri, 8am-4.30pm.
5
On 15 and 16 June Lis and Cynthia attended the Lead to Succeed Volunteering Conference held in Adelaide
at the Crown Plaza and opened by His Excellency The Honourable Hieu van Le AC, Governor of South
Australia. Conferences like this are a great opportunity to promote, celebrate and advance volunteering in
our community and for WCHN staff to connect with their peers and experience what other volunteer
programs across the country are doing.
The keynote speakers were Tobi Johnson and Dr Thomas Nielsen. Tobi is the
President of Tobi Johnson & Associates, a volunteer management consulting firm
whose mission it is to help volunteer involving organisations to connect with
volunteers and provide best practice in volunteer involvement and management.
Dr Nielsen is an Associate Professor at the University of Canberra and a member of
the 2009-10 National Values Education Project Advisory Committee. Dr Neilsen
advocates for a ‘Curriculum of Giving’ and his research shows that giving and
serving others increase wellbeing and academic outcomes.
Amanda Blair, a South Australian media identity was the MC for the conference but
also spoke herself about her passion for volunteering. Amanda volunteers her time
as Ambassador for the Hutt Street Centre, Time for Kids, The Bedford Group and
Foundation Shine. She is also a volunteer with the Country Women’s Association
and every year during the Royal Adelaide Show can be found serving tea in their
café. Amanda has 4 children and leads by example as she gets them involved in
volunteering too.
The conference was excellent and has refreshed Lis and Cynthia’s ideas and
purpose as we lead the WCHN volunteer program to success.
White Ribbon Workplace
In April 2017, the Women’s and Children’s Health Network (WCHN) officially became a White Ribbon Australia Workplace Accredited organisation.
Over the past 18 months, the WCHN has worked extremely hard to put the issue of men’s violence against women on everyone’s radar. You are encouraged to continue this journey with us to create change and build a society in which women and children can be free from all forms of violence and harm.
Tobi Johnson
Thomas Nielsen
6
The Talent Within: 2017 Staff and Volunteer Exhibition
The 2017 Talent Within Exhibition celebrates
the ‘talent within’ the Women’s and Children’s
Health Network and features over 20 artists
each showing off their skills in photography
and visual art. This exhibition offers an
opportunity to find a new connection, and a
different side to the people that volunteer and
work in the Women’s and Children’s Health
Network.
Please also visit the 2016 Talent Within
Exhibition Award winner, Tim Boord’s solo
exhibition, About Face, in Gallery C in the
Samuel Way walkway, Zone E.
The Talent Within is part of the South
Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival official
program. The galleries are an initiative of the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation Teamkids Arts in
Health program in partnership with the Women’s and Children’s Health Network and supported by the
Government of South Australia through Arts SA.
www.teamkids.com.au
Vicki Dickson, Turtle Rocks, oil paint on canvas, 91 x 61 cm
New WCH Spiritual Care Coordinator appointed
Cathy Haakmeester has been appointed to the position of Spiritual Care Coordinator, Women’s and Children’s
Hospital.
Cathy will officially commence on 24 July 2017 after a handover from Coordinating Chaplain Carl Aiken, who is
retiring. Cathy brings a depth of spiritual care experience to the role, including 11 years as a Regional Manager
of Schools Ministry Group and seven as a school chaplain, providing practical and spiritual support to children,
young people, families and women.
Cathy has completed a Master of Social Work degree and has undertaken reflective practice during her field placements in family support and healthcare settings, for which she has received an “Outstanding Practice
Award”. Prior to this, Cathy completed three years’ training in medicine, which adds to her understanding when providing support to clients and staff in the healthcare context.
7
The WCHN History and Heritage Collection:
a modest collection among peers
The Women’s and Children’s Hospital Network (WCHN), like most major Australian institutions of a certain
vintage, holds a collection of historical artefacts. This is managed by the WCHN History and Heritage Group,
which was originally formed as the ICONS Group in 1995 by retired Adelaide Children’s Hospital staff.
The WCHN History and Heritage Group works to preserve, collect, collate, catalogue, store, display and
interpret items of historical significance to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and its predecessors the
Adelaide Children’s Hospital, the Queen Victoria Hospital and associated institutions (eg Estcourt House
and the former Child and Youth Health Service) in order to preserve, value and make accessible to the
wider community their history and the significance of their work with regard to advances in child, youth and
women’s health care in South Australia and nationally.
The WCHN History and Heritage Collection itself is mainly comprised of newsletters, nursing and
fundraising memorabilia, medical and surgical instruments (particularly obstetric and gynaecological), infant
feeders, laboratory and X-ray equipment, old toys, and photographs of buildings, benefactors and staff.
by Emily Collins (Museum Consultant/Curator, WCHN History and Heritage Group)
Items from the collection:
Left—heart monitor
Centre—model of uterus
Right—Ear syringe
8
My name is Nicholas Rose and my role at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital is as volunteer driver for
delivery to patients’ homes of supplies for home-based equipment.
Since 1988 I have also been a volunteer at the Adelaide Zoo. That role started with a training course held from
9.00 am – 5.00 pm on six consecutive Sundays. I was then matched with a senior guide for 3 months, followed
by a 90 minute assessment.
Wearing my zoo shirt I was then released onto the public! The volunteering expectation with the zoo is one full
day or 2 half days each month. I started doing general guiding every other Sunday afternoon as I was then
working full time. This could include manning the touch table, where animal artefacts are available for children
to look at and touch. The items come from animals from the zoo which have died, usually of old age. Children
find the lion skull fascinating as it is huge and there are animal skins from leopards and cheetahs which look
beautiful for children to touch.
I have also helped out in the Envirodome which was built by Westpac using recycled materials and houses the
smaller amphibians and insects.
Over the years I have been involved with many volunteer roles at the zoo, including zoo watch, behind the
scenes tours, Members Activities group, the quiz night, MC at the Christmas picnic, the children’s zoo, off-site
speaking and the school holiday programme.
I really enjoy the role of tour guide because I meet people from all over the world. The children in particular are
fabulous; really interested in what I am showing and telling them and many are passionate about conservation.
A nine year old once gave me a long lecture on sea horses and taught me quite a lot about a creature he was
obviously fascinated with!
As a tour guide I am assessed on my knowledge and ability every three years. The guides are continually
updating their knowledge about the zoo inmates, particularly if there are new animals. For example, we
received many pages of information on the pandas when they were coming to the zoo.
The zoo keepers are a great bunch and always willing to have a chat and share their knowledge which I then
incorporate into the information I give on the tours. I have learned to quickly assess each tour group and tailor
the information for that particular audience and attention span.
There are many other ways to be involved – information booth; the gardening group (Pot-a-Zoo) which helps
the horticultural department with the garden beds and pruning and tending plants in the enclosures; animal
behavioural enrichment (BEEZA) and the cadaver corps which is a specialist group which prepares skins,
bones and skeletons.
I have seen many changes in my time at the zoo – new uniforms, police clearances, appraisals, Monarto Zoo
and, of course, the pandas. But some things remain the same – my favourite area has always been birds,
especially the walk through aviaries and beautiful parrots.
Volunteering at the zoo is great and has certainly broadened my outlook meeting people from all over the world.
By Nicholas Rose
Volunteering at the zoo
9
WCHN Volunteers
National
Volunteer Week
& Guide Team
1st Birthday
10
WCHN Volunteers
Photoshoot
11
WCHN Volunteers Photoshoot
These photos were taken to recognise our volunteers.
A selection were on display recently in the Gallery on 2nd floor of Zone D, near the Café.
We often use the photos to promote the work of our wonderful volunteers in presentations and photo displays.
Contact us
Lis Brittan
Manager WCHN Volunteers
Tel: 8161 8475
Cynthia Baldwin
Coordinator WCHN Volunteers
Tel: 8161 6437
Linda Dyett
Administration Officer WCHN Volunteers
Tel: 8161 7471
Paediatric Rehabilitation celebrates first decade
The Paediatric Rehabilitation Department at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital recently
celebrated its 10th year of serving the children and young people of South Australia.
The department provides intensive rehabilitation for children and adolescents with an acquired
(and often catastrophic) reduction in function due to trauma, illness or medical procedures. The
aim is to assist rehabilitation patients to achieve the highest level of independence, physically,
socially and psychologically, in order to maximise their quality of life and their participation within
their family and community.
The introduction of the Ambulatory Rehabilitation Program has ensured that children are able to
be discharged home earlier, while still being able to access the intensive rehabilitation that they
require. In addition, Little Heroes Foundation funded the implementation of the Centre for
Robotics and Innovation, a gym which assists patients with both upper and lower limb strength
and function training.
The Paediatric Rehabilitation Department is also the first area of the WCH approved for Animal
Assisted Therapy. Two therapy dogs, Harper and Teddy, attend a therapy program twice a week,
bringing joy and motivation to the children involved in the program.
The Department includes a number of leaders in their field, including Unit Head, Dr James Rice,
who is President of the Australasian Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine,
and a member of the International Alliance of Academies of Child Disability and Associate
Professor Ray Russo, Rehabilitation Consultant and a former Unit Head, who is Chairman of the
Faculty of Rehabilitation Committee in Paediatrics, where he is responsible for the training and
examination of paediatric rehabilitation trainee doctors.
Reprinted from Around our Region
