The Friends of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Inc. 26th AGM & Conference

GeneralQueen Victoria AuxiliaryRegional Auxiliary Div...Shops Auxiliary

20 Dec

Written By Friends of the Women's & Children's Hospital FWCH

Mrs Pauline Linke, Friends President welcomed the Official Party and over 80 members who attended the Friends 2018 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Conference, held on the 26th October 2018 in Adelaide. It was an amazing opportunity to reflect on Friends accomplishments during the last year and hear from selected guest speakers.

Guest speaker for the official opening was Mr Graeme Goodings, Australian Veteran Journalist. Graeme is a highly acclaimed Master of Ceremonies, Guest Speaker, Narrator and Facilitator who has worked in TV and Radio as news presenter and talk show host. Graeme is an ambassador for Cancer Council SA, Jodie Lee Foundation, Foundation Shine, Adelaide football club and supporter of several charitable foundations. He delivered a thought-provoking speech about prostate cancer and the importance of timely intervention. It was inspiring to see how an unpleasant topic can be presented in a very entertaining and educational way. Friends thanked Graeme for taking the time to attend and deliver the opening speech.With great pleasure The Friends Association awarded four Life Memberships based on recommendations from our divisions. Life Memberships were presented by Mr Ross Haslam, Friends Patron and Mr. Goodings to:

Mrs Brenda Adams
Brenda has been a volunteer in the Rainbows shop since November 2002. During her 16 years of volunteering she has been preparing delicious sandwiches every Thursday. She has always been reliable, dedicated, friendly and a great asset to the team. Brenda is greatly appreciated by the team she works with.
Mrs Rosemary Dunn
Rosemary has been a dedicated and supportive member of Tarlee/Stockport Auxiliary for 50 years during which she has held positions of President and Vice President. Her support in assisting with the organisation of Markets, Morning Teas, Dinner Dances, Melbourne Cup luncheons, raffles as well as catering to other events has been exemplary. She was also presented with her 50 years’ service certificate.
Mrs Sandra Edwards
Sandra has been a valued member of the Crystal Brook Auxiliary for 19 years. She is always willing to participate and contribute to all fundraising activities including Card Day, Port Pirie Trotts and the Op Shop. Her support and dedication to the Auxiliary is outstanding.
Mrs Jill Morrison
Jill is one of the most dedicated and valued Team Leaders in Vic’s. She is calm, patient and an excellent teacher for Vic’s new volunteers. A good communicator she is always friendly and supportive of both, volunteers and customers. She is reliable and ready to take charge when required.

Congratulations to all the recipients!

Equipment presentations were held after the Morning Tea in the Queen Victoria Lecture Theatre and Telehealth Conference Room. Mr Adrian Richards, Manager of Biomedical Engineering Department WCHN and a team of hospital clinicians presented equipment donated by Friends and provided insights on how these donated items will bring quality improvements to the treatment options. Equipment presented included a Biliblanket, Oxygen Concentrators, Transport incubator and blades for Video Laryngoscope (for a full list of equipment donated please refer to the 2017/18 Annual Report page 20. An informative presentation on the new Telehealth equipment donated by Friends also occurred on the day. The Telehealth equipment is providing some real benefits to country residence by reducing the travelling to appointments.

Phil Robinson provided an update regarding the network, events that marked the past year and current and future projects that will bring major improvements to the Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN). He also thanked Friends for their ongoing support to the WCHN. One of the major events in the last year was the appointment of Lindsey Gough as the new CEO of WCHN. Lindsey was General Manager of Royal Adelaide Hospital and Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre in 2009. She also held other senior roles within SA Health and Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service. Most recently she spent four and a half years in Dubbo NSW as Deputy CEO of the Western NSW Local Health District before returning to Adelaide in April to commence as CEO of WCHN.Phil also spoke about the 140th Hospital anniversary, the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital (WCH) Taskforce, Local Health Network Governing Boards, redevelopment of the Medical Day Unit, Australian Red Cross Blood Service’s Milk Bank Service, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service restructure, New Aboriginal Health plan and Strategy, Child and Adolescent Brain injury rehabilitation service, Paediatric chronic pain service, new resource for bereaved parents, centre of Research Excellence, distinguished Service Awards and the 2018 Person and Family Cantered Care Awards.

Passion Projects 2018 Presentations
After a very successful trial in 2017, The Friends were pleased to continue the funding for the 2018 “Person and Family Centered Care Passion Projects”. The grant provided four quality improvement projects to be funded up to the value of $5000 each within the Health Network. Due to Allan Ball being an apology, presentation was delivered by Lily Griffin, Co-Chair for Consumer and Community Partnering Committee. Lily spoke about success of all four projects in the last year which included design of culturally appropriate antenatal physio sessions for Aboriginal women, enhancing environments in Helen Mayo House, Virtual Reality in Dialysis and Medical Day Unit, and the Youth Homelessness project.

Friends Fellowships Recipients
After a very successful trial in 2017, The Friends were pleased to continue the funding for the 2018 “Person and Family Centered Care Passion Projects”. The grant provided four quality improvement projects to be funded up to the value of $5000 each within the Health Network. The presentation was delivered by Lily Griffin, Co-Chair for Consumer and Community Partnering Committee. Lily spoke about the success of the four projects which included the design of culturally appropriate antenatal physio sessions for Aboriginal women, enhancing environments in Helen Mayo House, Virtual Reality in Dialysis and Medical Day Unit, and the Youth Homelessness project.

Friends Fellowships Recipients
The Friends have sponsored two fellowships in the last financial year. Rebecca Bewlex, Nursing Unit Manager, Paediatric Surgical Ambulatory Service WCHN visited Monash Children’s Hospital, the Royal Children’s Hospital (in Melbourne) and the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital (in Brisbane) and their Day of Surgery Admissions (DOSA) units to gain insight, ideas and inspiration to assist in planning and improving the WCHN DOSA unit.Kasey Medlow, Nurse Educator, Surgical Services, WCHN attended the International Practice Development Collaborative (IPDC) school run by the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network and to use the tools and resources learnt and apply to projects that are run within the Surgical Services.During the AGM and Conference gifts were presented to: Mr Goodings, Mr Haslam, Mr Richards and Ms Griffen as a token of appreciation for their cooperation and support to Friends.

A Certificate of Appreciation was also presented to Meegan from Device Technologies for their generous sponsorship of the 26th Friends Conference.The AGM then moved on to thank all who participated in the 26th AGM and all who contributed to the success of the conference and supported Friends throughout the year including the Friends Council for their tireless work and contributions, Andrew, Sonia and Gordana for the business, admin and office support, Eva and Chris for their admin volunteer support, Jason and Chris for photography, David and Zain for transport services support during the conference.

The 2017/18 Annual Report is available here

Conference Opening Session included