Tom has been connected to Orbost Regional health in various supportive forms since he moved to the district with his wife Isla, about ten or twelve years ago?

Isla worked here as the women's health nurse, and sexual and reproductive health educator, bringing her many years of experience to establish this role at ORH.

Initially Tom joined ORH as a volunteer driver, assisting infirm people to attend vital appointments when other means of transport were not available. But Tom's strong community spirit and keen sense of social justice soon saw him working in support of ORH to establish practical responses to the health and welfare needs he saw around him:
Tom was instrumental in establishing the men's health reference group at ORH, at a time when men were far less likely to focus on health issues, and there was a strong need to raise awareness and provide support for those men who experienced life changing health problems and could not cope easily with this.

Tom was a key driver for establishing the men's shed, with support of his Rotary club, who at that time were focusing on men's mental health and the importance of meaningful enterprise as a protective factor. Tom remains involved as a volunteer at the shed, providing a meal and other duties necessary for the day to day operations.

Tom can be seen at many of the community health functions that ORH organizes - either in a food serving support role, through the Rotary Club, or a promotional role encouraging participation and helping men to make sense of their health issues and the options available to them.

Anne started at ORH as a volunteer driver & in ADASS. Anne was employed in HACC whilst doing a Certificate in Aged Care. Whilst on light duties after a hip replacement, Anne was given the job of working out the logistics for the Wilderness Bike Ride as ORH was the auspice, this ran for 6 months. Anne returned to HACC and also worked as a Ward Clerk.

Anne them applied for and was appointed to the position of Allied Heath Assistant , travelling to Melbourne 3 days every fortnight for 9 months to complete the course, still working in HACC & as a ward Clerk.
In Feb 2007 Anne was successful in her application for the position of Hostel supervisor & for the 1st time in 8 yrs her family knew where she was working & how to be contacted.

Irene has always been affectionately known as Polly.

Polly started with the shire and come over when ORH took over the Homecare from the Orbost shire.

Polly has been working ORH for 15years, is always happy to fill in when needed even at very short notice. Some years ago when Polly was told she would need to do some training and sit in a class room, she could not understand why she would need to as she knew what she was doing, and didn't see why it was necessary to do paper work, just to do homecare. Polly did attend class and found it was not as bad as she thought it would be.

Whenever the computer program plays up Polly suggests that we should go back to pen and paper, then there wouldn't be any problems.

Alice started with the shire and come over when ORH took over the Homecare from the Orbost shire.

Alice has been working for us for 15 years, during her working years Alice has had some challenging clients and has always met and embraced all clients with a caring nature. Alice finds the job rewarding and enjoys helping clients.

Janice has worked for ORH for 15 years doing homecare and personal care. Janice has had a variety of clients both male and female and some more challenging than others.

Janice also does a great job with working with the Men's Fridays respite group, the participants of this group have varying stages of dementia, Janice finds the job both rewarding and challenging.

Irene Rowley has now worked at ORH for 15 years. She was originally employed as a Personal/Home carer. Soon after starting she quickly began doing relief work in HACC administration. Over time Irene's expertise in administration meant she moved full-time into this role. One of Irene's greatest contributions has been in the area of Volunteer Co-Ordination. Irene took on the role of Volunteer Co-Ordinator around 8 years ago and has established a reliable system of patient transport as well coordinating volunteer services across a range of services provided by ORH. In recent years Irene has taken on the role of HACC-Team Leader. This role has enabled her to utilize her valuable knowledge of the local community.

Joyce worked for many years as a personal care attendant in Lochiel House often working in the supervisor role. Joyce recognized she needed a change and now works as a ward clerk in the acute ward. Joyce is a very dedicated and reliable staff member who in her current role as a ward clerk is responsible for many different tasks which includes admission of patients to the ward, contacting patients after discharge, general administration duties and she is often relied on to transport patients to appointments, deliver blood or pick up medications from Bairnsdale. Joyce's dedication and commitment to her work is commendable.

Jewell Young started her training at Orbost Regional Health in 1968. The hospital had known of Jewell wanting to become a nurse, and saw the opportunity to help out a young woman with her career and at the same time hoped that she may return on completion of her training to take up work at Orbost Regional Health. Jewell worked on a casual basis until December 1979, when matron Elizabeth Methven asked Jewell if she would help with night duty over the Christmas/New Year period. It was at this stage that Jewell decided that she might go back to work full time and remained on night duty for 12 years.

Jewell went Melbourne where she was to be trained to be Dialysis Nurse. In 1996 she returned to normal hospital duties on a permanent part time basis. Jewell has studied hard over the years and is able to work in different areas such as the acute ward, nursing home, theatre and she also assists in managing the clinical stores department. Jewell also successfully completed her Division 2 medication endorsement.
We all congratulate Jewell on her hard work and dedication to her nursing career.