PAGE 26 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Celebrating those who care INTERNATIONAL Day of the Midwife was held on May 5 and May 12 was International Nurses Day.
Living in a small regional community such as South Gippsland, most people have come across one of the dedicated midwives or nurses who work at the Gippsland Southern Health Service campuses at Korumburra and Leongatha. Jenny Fitzgerald is the unit manager at Korumburra responsible for all inpatients and high care residents who use the services at Korumburra District Hospital and Alchera House. As a little girl Jenny always wanted to be a nurse and pursued her chosen career path with gusto. As soon as she graduated from her nursing degree, Jenny headed over to London. Speaking of her time in the UK, Jenny said it was an enlightening experience and Australian nurses were highly sought-after and respected. “While at the Wellington Hospital in London, I was asked to help out in the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit. I met two Australian and one New Zealand nurse who were dynamic and helped set the course for my future direction,” she said. Upon her return to Australia, Jenny completed a course in cardiothoracics at St Vincent’s in Melbourne then worked in the Coronary Care Unit. She and her husband decided to move to the country and Jenny gained employment at Korumburra District Hospital. “The Korumburra hospital provided the scope to develop my knowledge of rural nursing where medical resources were limited and also to impart my knowledge in cardiac nursing, which
Love their job: Gippsland Southern Health Service midwives Gabe Poulton, Louise Cruickshank holding the baby and Linda Fiddelaers. eventually laid the foundations for cardiac rehabilitation in the South Gippsland region,” she said. Jenny now manages a great team with a mix of skills and experience, capable of covering any scenario that comes their way. “Work is never boring. A new day brings new challenges and that is what makes nursing so exciting, as we strive to continually improve,” Jenny said. Fay Smallman is one of GSHS’s longest serving nurses, having been with the health service and Leongatha Memorial Hospital for more than 50 years - a remarkable achievement.
Fay is one of GSHS’s ‘old-school’ nurses, who started her training in the days when nurses never spoke directly to doctors without the authority of the Matron and always referred to the Matron as “Miss”. During her 50 year career, Fay has raised a family of three children, spent 15 years running the family dairy farm while husband John worked off-farm, as well as working night duty for the past 45 years. Fay continues to work the night shift and is responsible for supporting the clinical practice and care of patients on the general ward at the Leongatha Campus.
Fay is excited about the upcoming redevelopment of the Leongatha campus. “The existing hospital has done a great service to the local community, but is long past its use-by-date,” she said. Fay is now looking forward to working with a separate day surgery and chemotherapy area that will be important features in the redeveloped hospital building. Linda Fiddelaers has been part of the GSHS midwifery team for the past 16 years. Linda did her general nursing training at Wangaratta Hospital, followed by her midwifery training at The Mercy in Melbourne.
Reflecting on the changes in midwifery over her career, Linda said her training was a medical-based model of care and women had very little input about their birthing plan. Doctors even determined what position women would give birth in. Linda fell in love with midwifery when she came to Leongatha to work, because the emphasis was on the women and what they wanted from their birthing experience. “It was lovely to have the continuity of care where you could care for the women antenatally, during labour and postnatally and then see them with their baby in the local community,” Linda said. According to Linda, the Leongatha hospital redevelopment reinforces the importance of country people having local access to all the necessary medical care, where they can continue to be supported by family and friends. “The new building will provide a fantastic working environment which will reflect the great care already provided by the GSHS staff working within the current hospital,” Linda said. For those thinking of a career in nursing, Jenny Fitzgerald has some advice. “The great thing about nursing is that there is plenty of scope to have an impact if you take the initiative and have the aptitude and enthusiasm,” she said. “The demand for nurses has always been there, and the government offers funding incentives for further education to meet the needs. GSHS also offers opportunities for ongoing education and professional development and support to those who are committed.”
Bush trade made easy By Jane Ross BASS Coast Landcare Network is involved in a trial that will match those needing to buy native vegetation credits, with those able to sell them.
Fine form: Korumburra Secondary College principal Lyn Hardy with contestants Jessica Murphy, Christine Young, Catriona Lamond, Darcy Ryder and Maida Anderson.
Show youth shine KORUMBURRA hosted the regional judging of the Rural Ambassador award recently. The nation-wide competition is held among agricultural show
societies. While no South Gippslanders competed in the event, judging was undertaken by Korumburra Secondary College principal Lyn Hardy. The winner was Christine Young of Of-
ficer South, representing the Pakenham Show. Margaret Brown of Korumburra won the knitting competition and Maryke Dunn, also of Korumburra, won the embroidery and patchwork sections.
The system will work online. It is being trialled in Gippsland, an area stretching from Lakes Entrance, through Yarram, to Wonthaggi. The network’s vegetation offset project officer, Rob Gray said it will simplify and hasten a process that already exists. Called the Native Vegetation Exchange, the trial was launched just before Easter by the State Department of Sustainability and Environment, which will oversee it. Under the new scheme, landholders will still have to have their native vegetation assessed by DSE. Rob said this is necessary so that the vegetation on offer has been verified. After the assessment, the landholder will be given a score, a user name and a password for the inter-
net system. Thus, buyers will be able to search online for a match and a price. When the Victorian Native Vegetation Framework was introduced by the previous State Government, the clearing of native vegetation required a permit. There are some exceptions, such as removing vegetation from around a house. Under a permit, in order to take the native plants away from one site, credits have to be found elsewhere. An example of this occurred some years ago when VicRoads widened the Bass Highway in the Bass area. Native vegetation had to go to make way for the bigger road and offsets had to be found. There are strict rules attached to offsetting, such as finding a site that is the same size and contains the same vegetation. In Bass Coast, he added, this is problematic because much of the native vegetation, such as swamp scrub, is rare. This could mean that developers or buyers might have to find credits outside a particular biodiversity
region, although this is not ideal. Victoria has around 12 biodiversity regions, the Gippsland Plains being one. Before the Native Vegetation Exchange was introduced, the process of matching buyers and sellers was more cumbersome, with landholders applying to DSE to have an assessment done and a developer applying to DSE for a match. And that took time. The new online system will hasten the process. The trial is being managed by DSE in partnership with the Bass Coast Landcare Network. A DSE press release stated that its BushBrokers scheme had established a market for valuing native vegetation and trading native vegetation offsets. When a native vegetation trade occurs, the parties involved are recorded on the DSE Native Vegetation Credit register. And, once the payment is made, the buyer will receive a Native Vegetation Credit extract as proof of purchase. To find out more, ring DSE on 136 186.
Festival secures funding Council to advise developers THE Prom Coast Summer Festival has received $2500 from the State Government under the April 2011 round of the Country Victoria Events Program. The Deputy Premier and Member for Gippsland South, Peter Ryan, said the festival will be held in the Corner Inlet area from January 6-8, and would feature numerous events and activities including a Show’n’Shine event, sand sculpture and kids fishing events. Mr Ryan said the funding is provided to assist the organising group with event development, marketing and delivery. The festival was one of 24 regional organisations across Victoria to receive a total
of $74,500. Funding supports Victorian regional organisations delivering sports, music, visual arts, food and wine, multicultural festival events promoting regional communities. “Regional events like The Prom Coast Summer Festival are supported because they not only demonstrate potential for increased economic benefit and visitation to the Corner Inlet region, but enhancement of the region’s particular tourism strengths and local community identity,” Mr Ryan said. The program provides up to $10,000 per event to help with tourism marketing and event delivery and development. Closing dates for applications for the program are April 1 and October 1 annually. For more information on CVEP funding for 2011 visit www.visitvictoria.com
SOUTH Gippsland Shire Council is once again inviting developers, consultants and interested residents to attend an information session on the benefits of the Infrastructure Design Manual. The manual was launched last December to help council and developers with improved development approval processes and timeframes. The meeting will take place at the council chambers, Michael Place, Leongatha from 9-11am on Tuesday, May 24. The manual can be viewed on www.southgippsland.vic.gov.au. It was developed to provide greater clarity and consistency for consultants, developers and residents. The primary objectives of the manual include: • to clearly document the requirements for the design and development of infrastructure; • to standardise development submissions as much as possible; and
• to ensure that minimum design criteria relating to design and construction of infrastructure are met. It should be noted that it is now being used as the basis for identifying regional standards for infrastructure design across Gippsland. The longer term aim is for a standardised IDM to be used across Victoria. “While many developers have already had the chance to work with the manual, there are others who are not aware of its existence, so this is an opportunity to find out more and for us to receive feedback on its value,” said council’s property development co-ordinator, Chris Van Der Ark. “It’s also a great opportunity for anyone who is planning to develop land and needs to learn more about the rules, regulations and standards for new infrastructure.” Persons interested in attending the information session can register their interest by calling Ms Van Der Ark on 0419 515 687 or emailing chris.vanderark@southgippsland.vic.gov.au