In this quarter’s update for FRRR’s donor partners, read about:

• Flood recovery – how you can help
• The long and short of bushfire recovery – FRRR’s approach to recovery following the Black Summer bushfires
• Case study: Recovery in action in mighty Mallacoota
• Insights from the bush
• Donor spotlight: The Bertalli Family Foundation
• Progress Report
• Partnering opportunities: Victorian expansion of disaster resilience 
• Community partner spotlight: The Next Economy

The Australian Philanthropic Services and Fiona Higgins spoke with FRRR’s CEO Natalie Egleton and Chairman Tim Fairfax AC about the crucial role of flexible funding and the impact that private philanthropy can make to regional and remote communities across the country.

“We now strive to mirror the kinds of healthy community systems we are trying to foster and support in the regions,” explains Natalie.

In this quarter’s update for FRRR’s donor partners, read about:

• Heads up on the findings of the Heartbeat of Rural Australia study
• BE INSPIRED: Thallon ‘back from the brink’
• Donor Spotlight: Pinnacle Charitable Foundation
• Insights from the bush
• Our progress, with your support
• Partnering Opportunity – Supporting volunteers through SRC
• Grants in Action: Bermagui’s collective approach to preparedness
• Community Partner Spotlight: Housing Matters Action Group

Ngangganawili Aboriginal Health Services (NAHS) is an Aboriginal community controlled organisation that plays an integral role in health service provision for the highly mobile population in the Central Desert Region. It delivers more than 10,000 episodes of health care per annum to up to 4,000 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal clients on Martu country in remote Western Australia. NAHS is a critical first point of contact between the community and the WA health care system, operating since 1993 over an area of some 184,000 square kilometres.

The Community Paramedics operate under a model unique to Western Australia: they not only provide traditional emergency ambulance care, but they provide in-home extended care services, so that patients are able to receive high quality health care in the home without needing to go to hospital. This also facilitates the ongoing review of patients’ conditions that would normally need to be managed in an in-patient setting or via multiple trips to a clinic.

Through the support of FRRR and its donor partner the Kapikarnpi Community Fund, NAHS was able to upgrade the response bags in both of the NAHS emergency ambulances. The bags in use were ageing and inconsistent with a mismatch of brands and styles, and they feared this could lead to confusion in an emergency when working in the different ambulances. They were also problematic to clean, cumbersome and not designed with ergonomics in mind, increasing the risk of injury to paramedics through manual handling incidents.

The $4,333 grant enabled the purchase of modern, fit for purpose ambulance kit bags. The new ergonomic bags have an internal layout which allows equipment to be laid out in a logical manner that protects the contents and allows easier access. Most importantly they are designed in accordance with AS4146-1994 Australian Standards for Laundry Practice, which allow for the cleaning of pathogens such as HIV, hepatitis and vegetative organisms. This new equipment assists in the provision of safer services for the community of Wiluna.

Community Paramedic Wade Bloffwitch said that, “Grants such as this are vital to the operation of community-controlled, not-for-profit health services across the country and NAHS thanks FRRR and its donors for their commitment to the community”.

In this quarter’s update for FRRR’s donor partners, read about:

• Grants in Action: Bootstraps working to strengthen community social fabric
• FRRR launches Heartbeat of Australia Study
• Partnering Opportunity – Building resilience to drought
• Donor Spotlight: Portland House Foundation
• Insights from the bush
• Community Partner Spotlight: St Paul’s Carcoar Community Facility Ltd.
• Our progress, with your support

In this quarter’s update for FRRR’s donor partners, read about:

• Grants in Action: Sitting together and speaking up in WA’s mid-west
• Partnering Opportunity – Building resilience to drought
• Donor Spotlight: Thankful4Farmers
• Insights from the bush
• Community Partner Spotlight: Foundation Barossa
• Our progress, with your support