News

During the year we said farewell to Lyn Nilsson who headed up the palliative care volunteers out of the Port Macquarie Community Health Centre. We also said farewell to Keren Bateman who managed volunteers with HammondCare in the Neringah and Greenwich Hospitals.

In Western Sydney we said goodbye to the much loved Glenda Wright who was instrumental in the development of the Western Sydney Supportive Care Volunteers led by Kylie Clark. We also farewelled Western NSW Volunteer Project Coordinators Candice Golding and Annella Powell who were instrumental in their development work on the WNSWLHD Volunteer Project, and welcomed Jane Beach into her new area-wide role as the Volunteer Project Coordinator.

In Broken Hill we farewelled the award winning Mary Leehane on her departure from her hospital-wide volunteer management role.

We welcomed new palliative care volunteer managers Leanne Smith (CRANES Grafton), Leanne Broadhead (Greenwich), Karryn Chivers (Neringah), Bronwyn Duffy (Braeside) and Kami Dibden (Central Coast). We also welcomed back Susan Brooks to the HammondCare volunteers based at Mona Vale on the Northern Beaches. Welcome also to Janet Pearce who started-up the community visiting volunteer group in Broken Hill and has now also taken on the management of volunteers providing palliative care in the hospital.

Tina Pidcock, the Community Program Coordinator overseeing the palliative care volunteer program for the Cancer Council NSW Hunter, expanded her role to cover the Upper Hunter (Muswellbrook) region after farewelling Muswellbrook manager Joanne Murray.

In May, the Coordinator of Volunteers for Palliative Care Inc, Judith Robinson, announced plans for the development of a community hospice in the Maitland area. With a goal to support people in ‘as close to a home environment as is possible’ the centre will involve palliative care volunteers as part of the ‘medical and non-medical’ approach to palliative care.

Anne-Marie Traynor (Manager Volunteer Services at Calvary Health Care Kogarah) was recognised by her peers for her outstanding professional contribution to the field of volunteer management in palliative care over a 23 year period.

Anne-Marie’s award was conferred at the inaugural Palliative Care Volunteer Managers Conference held at Coolangatta Estate in the Shoalhaven area on 7-8 May.

During the year Julie Gissing and Robyn Swanson, who head-up the Sacred Heart Biography Service, were recognised with a prestigious 2018 Innovation and Excellence Award, a national award from St Vincent’s Health Australia under the category ‘Leaders in Catholic health care and service to the poor and vulnerable’.

Also in 2018 Kate and Alex at the Volunteer Support Services Programme, in collaboration with local volunteer managers, hosted forums on spirituality and palliative care in Wagga Wagga, Mt Druitt, Port Macquarie, Warilla, Broken Hill and Orange, as well as a forum on experiences around dying in Tamworth. In June we were published in a new release by Oxford University Press The Changing Face of Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care: An international perspective, in July Kate completed the second statewide survey Snapshot 2018: A review of Palliative Care Volunteering in NSW and in August we published a second edition of Palliare: A Handbook for Palliative Care Volunteers in NSW (2018).

To all palliative care volunteers and managers, thank you for all that you did in 2018!

Pic: Gathering at the inaugural Palliative Care Volunteer Managers Conference in May, from (L) Kate Bowman, Sarah Potter, Carolyn Wilkinson, Kylie Clark, Karen Rudge, Janet Pearce, Jacquie Martinez, Arlene Roache, Joanne Murray, Anne-Marie Traynor, Katrina Simmons, Sue Dykes, Elizabeth Hinder, Sue Baker(front), Sue Cleary (rear), Rachel Simpson, Elanne Thompson & Alex Huntir.