Black Summer Bushfire Recovery: 25 August 2022
The Bushfire Recovery Fund grant program, funded by HMSTrust and the Sidney Myer Fund, has recently awarded a grant of $110,000 to be paid over two years to the bush nursing centre at Swifts Creek in East Gippsland. Bush nursing centres operate in locations remote from the medical facilities of major hubs and where there is no local doctor or pharmacy. Swifts Creek Bush Nursing Centre played a central role in supporting the local community and emergency services workers during the Black Saturday fires and continues to provide backbone support to the communities recovery.
The project titled “Sustainable Remote Community Health Services”, will support the organisation working towards key organisational goals for future service delivery. The Bush Nursing Manager is a multi-faceted role, encompassing a complex range of nursing duties combined with business management. There is significant risk to the centre with changes to key staff such as the Bush Nursing Manager and/or key members of the Committee of Management.
The grant will build the capacity of the organisation to tackle the systemic complexity of the health sector and be strategic in navigating the local health system to ensure that it meets the compelling needs of the recovering community now and well into the future.
