NEWS DESK
Medal for health expert’s help MOUNT Martha resident and former Voices of the Peninsula candidate for the federal election, Claire Boardman, has been honoured in the Queen’s Birthday list with a Public Service Medal for her outstanding contribution to public health. Boardman is recognised as an Australian leader in the field of infection prevention control. She is currently deputy public health commander and executive director of the Victorian Department of Health Infection Prevention Control Advice and Response (IPCAR) unit. Boardman said she was honoured to be recognised for her 20-year commitment to public health management and work in improving health outcomes for whole populations. Although known for her work during the height of the COVID pandemic, Boardman says she is particularly proud of working alongside Indigenous health workers in the Torres Strait and Northern Territory on prevention, education and treatment of rheumatic heart disease. Indigenous populations have the highest rate of rheumatic heart disease in the world, largely linked to disadvantage. “It’s really important for us to work with locals to help them take carriage of their health, so a lot of what we do is education, communication and prevention,” Boardman said. “My role has also involved advocacy and raising awareness so as to empower people.” Boardman said it had been terrific to “stand alongside other health workers who have been honoured and recognised for their work”. More recently, Boardman has been involved in formulating the vital elements for effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic, building the IPCAR team by recruiting experts, introducing IPC training and building capacity in nurses to create outbreak response squads. Her nominee, colleague Jodie Harrison, said Boardman’s strategy to build IPCAR using education and training, data and quality, response,
Pothole damage payout unlikely from the shire DRIVERS whose vehicles have been damaged by potholes in Mornington Peninsula roads could be out of luck when it comes to claiming compensation for minor damage.
CLAIRE Boardman IPC advice, and research and policy, had created a team with strong results. She also included a targeted communications team to inform and educate across government, inter-sector and in the community and her leadership during the unfolding pandemic had been instrumental in the way Victoria controlled infection and managed community transmission. Boardman’s contribution as inaugural president of the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control (ACIPC) has been recognised by naming the college's highest honour the Claire Boardman CICP medal for leadership. Boardman has held state and national appointments, including president of ACIPC and was a member of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) Antimicrobial Resistance.
In 2013 she won a Council of Executive Women scholarship to attend the UNSW’s graduate school of management women in leadership course and in 2014 was a Northern Territory finalist for Australian of the Year awards. While she was “disappointingly” forced to pull out of the May federal election candidacy because of the demands of the Omicron strain of COVID, Boardman said she still had her sights on federal politics and had secured a scholarship to Melbourne University’s pathways to politics for women. “I think the federal election was an excellent outcome for the Teal movement and giving a voice for change,” she said. “My interests are climate change, which directly relates to health outcomes, household costs and housing affordability.”
Several callers to The News have complained of car damage after driving over a pothole outside 220 Eramosa Road West. Some are hoping for compensation, but Mornington Peninsula Shire Council guidelines are clear. Infrastructure services manager Tom Haines-Sutherland said potholes occur more frequently in the wetter months and were caused by water getting into the road surface due to a crack or a small hole. Traffic driving over the fault caused a pothole to form. Haine-Sutherland said any claims received by the shire were dealt with individually and on their merits. Section 110 of the Roads Management Act 2004 specifies that road authorities, including councils, are not liable for the first $1460 of property damage due to road infrastructure. Heavy rain and flash flooding has been impacting roads across the state this year. In the past Transport Victoria has advised drivers to defer any nonessential travel during bad weather until it passes. People who have to drive should turn headlights on and give extra space to the car in front. Liz Bell
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Western Port News
22 June 2022
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