General News
6 July, 2022
Nurses inspire $6000 donation
WITNESSING nurses rush to the aid of a fallen community member has inspired the Terang Lions Club to make a $6000 donation.
WITNESSING nurses rush to the aid of a fallen community member has inspired the Terang Lions Club to make a $6000 donation.
The club donated a Razier II lifting chair to Terang Mortlake Health Service (TMHS) last week for use at the Josie Black Community Health Centre.
The Razier II lifting chair is used to lift a person from the ground, with assembly and the motorised lift taking only around a minute to get a person back on their feet.
It is assembled underneath the person, requiring little movement, as the device is interlocked in five simple steps. Once assembled, the device can lift the person to either a sitting or near-upright position.
Terang Lions member Stewart Stonehouse said the donation was inspired after he had seen how effective the device was, but learned the health service had just one to share between its sites.
“A lady had a fall at her house and the nurses brought the machine around and used it to stand her up,” he said.
“The nurses told me when they came they had to go to the hospital to get the lift because there wasn’t one at the Josie Black Centre.
“A few weeks later I thought since the Lions had money, we should look in to getting the health service another one.”
Mr Stonehouse said the Lions members were proud to be involved in giving back, and thanked the community for its support which allowed such donations to be made.
“It’s wonderful to give back,” he said.
“Giving back is what we’re here for, and a lot of this money comes from cake salesand raffles.”
TMHS director of nursing Melissa Mitchell thanked the Lions club for its support.
She said staff across the health service were “very grateful” to receive the donation.
“These pieces of equipment are very expensive so it’s great to have it recognised as a need and for the Lions to step forward and purchase it,” Ms Mitchell said.
“It gives people a sense of security, whether it is people here at the health centre or out in the community, knowing we have this equipment on-site for any of the district nurses to grab and help people get up safely from the floor.
“Previously we’ve had to sometimes call an ambulance when someone had fallen, which can be quite difficult and you don’t want to take them away from potentially urgent emergency situations if it is something our nurses can address.
“Having a fall can be a very unsettling experience, so to be able to support people to recover quickly is really helpful.”
