By Brendan Rees
A Casey school’s dream of opening a health training hub is one step closer thanks to the generosity of Rotary Club of Berwick.
A donation of about $50,000 in medical equipment including five hospital beds will go towards Hallam Senior College’s allied health training centre which is due to open next year.
Other items included bed side tables, over bed cupboards, day chairs, wheels chairs, transfer boards, body lifters, crutches, physio tables, disposal gloves and more.
Community Services and Allied Health VET courses will be delivered at the new training centre with more than 40 students expected to participate.
The school will also transform a classroom into a simulated hospital in a $20-$30 million refurbishment project.
Rotary Club of Berwick members joined school staff and local politicians to discuss the project on Thursday 22 August.
Hallam Senior College executive principal Greg McMahon said the donation was warmly welcomed, adding the program would ensure students were job-ready.
“In a first for the College, the growing allied health – health services sector needs are being addressed with resources provided through a direct partnership with the Rotary Club of Berwick,” he said.
President of the Rotary Club of Berwick Isobel Caulfield said the donation was a joint effort with Rotary Donations in Kind who donate essential items to organisations around the world.
“That’s what Rotary is good at – is actually connecting people and joining the dots,” she said.
In another first, the College will team up with the South East Local Learning and Employment Network (SELLEN) to provide a program of study for young parents who would otherwise not finish school.
“It’s a very exciting time for young people who are pregnant and/or parenting to be able to return to their education and bring their baby with them,” SELLEN partnerships facilitator Mary Tresize – Brown said.
In the past four years since trialling the Young Parents Education Program more than 60 young parents have completed Year 12 education and are now in employed or undertaking tertiary study.
