Westlawn Finance lending a hand to Our Kids in Grafton

The Westlawn Finance and Insurance Charity Golf Day, held recently in Grafton, has raised $18,000 to help purchase a Telehealth Enable Cart and a portable Nitrous Oxide Machine for the Children’s Ward at Grafton Base Hospital. Telehealth Enable Carts give doctors and nurses a fully mobile, ultra-high quality and secure telehealth solution that can be wheeled to any bed in the children’s ward, nursery or emergency department. A Portable Nitrous Oxide Machine assists with light sedation when a medical procedure is required for our paediatric patients.

Our Kids is a selffunded trust whose auspice is the Northern NSW Local Health District. Our Kids aims to improve the health services for children in the Northern Rivers area. Our Kids raises awareness and vital funds through local events and donations. With the funds raised, Our Kids works with the local medical team to purchase lifesaving medical equipment for children receiving care in hospitals in the Northern Rivers. This can include the Children’s Wards, Special Care Nursery and emergency departments in local hospitals.

Our Kids also issues annual Community Grants for families or organisations caring for children with special needs. These grants can be used to purchase equipment, medicine, and therapeutic items to help the children in their care.

Thanks to the generosity of local bequests, Our Kids has been able to set up educational funds for Continuous Education Scholarships for midwives, paediatric nurses, and allied health staff who work in our local hospitals.

“Thank you to Geoff

Schofeld, Mark Dougherty and the Westlawn Finance and Insurance team for organising such a magnifcent day for Grafton and Our Kids,” Rebekka Battista, Our Kids Fundraising Coordinator, said.

“The telehealth enable cart and portable nitrous oxide machine will be a great addition to Grafton Base Hospital.”

If you would like to help Grafton Base Hospital, Children’s Ward and Special Care Nursery, please get in touch with Our Kids on info@ourkids.org.au.

Richmond and Clarence Valley people power is needed to encourage the Government to take real action against the current regional crime crisis, local State MP Richie Williamson has declared.

“Richmond and Clarence Valley police offcers do a great job day in day out, not least because the previous Liberal and Nationals Government funded a massive boost in numbers,” Mr Williamson said.

“However, even the Sydney Labor Government acknowledges that crime is now higher in regional NSW than in Sydney.”

Mr Williamson said Labor’s regional crime package doesn’t go far enough and he needed Richmond and Clarence Valley locals to share their experiences of crime on a new website, www.regionalcrime.com. au.

“This will help me and other regional MPs to be successful in our efforts to convince the Government to take real action,” Mr Williamson said.

“I acknowledge the Government announced an anti-crime pilot program for Moree to help fnd solutions in that regional town, but that is not much use if you live in the Richmond or Clarence valleys or other regional communities.

“It also doesn’t take away the need for a Parliamentary Inquiry to look at the core issues of the problems and give our police the backing and resources they need to address the issue.

“We need real solutions to a real and growing problem and the Government needs to respond to and provide support to each regional town’s individual needs.

“Residents should also report all crime to the police, because these statistics are used when decisions are made about offcer allocations,” Mr Williamson concluded.

What’s your purpose?...by

Nigel Dawe

IF your answer to the question, “What gets you out of bed in the morning?” is nothing more than, “the next 8-hours of work, so as to be paid my wage”, then it’s time to take even just a simple, cursory look at your life. While it’s not realistic to suggest that life should always be a stroll in the park, by the same token, it shouldn’t ever be drained away via the sweat off your brow, doing a job you loathe.

Relatedly, one of my favourite writers, the Belgian Nobel Prize-winning Maurice Maeterlinck once professed, “Not a single day is trivial. It is essential that this idea should sink into our life and take root there.”

Take root, so as to sprout a principle within our deepest self, that grows into the solid semblance of a life that refects at all times: the gleaming 3-Ps – of passion, practicality, and purpose.

How many times have you done a job that either your manager saw you as nothing more (if not much less) than what you could do for them, or for customers that couldn’t care as to whether you were there or not? I know I have, and I’ve since vowed never to put myself through that ever again. None other than Leonardo da Vinci once refected, “Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.”

While this might sound lofty to some, it does bring each of us to account, albeit into the ultimate account of all: ‘Am I doing what I’m good at, love doing, or even mildly enjoy?’

The eternally uplifting, not to mention deaf and