By Katrina Flinn, Rotary Club of Hawthorn
Care packs are a welcome gift for all inpatients on their arrival for a stay at the psychiatry ward at both the Alfred and Box Hill Hospitals. A local sewing group of volunteers make the bags that house items suggested by the ward’s nurses and social workers to make the inpatient’s stay more comfortable. These items include a hairbrush, moisturiser, lip balm, journal, pens and more. Since many of the inpatients arrive in an emergency context, and 40% are homeless, basic clothing is also provided that the staff distributes as required.
How the project was set up and managed
After hearing how people often come into the Alfred Mental Health psychiatry inpatient ward without any personal items, Bronwyn Stephens from Rotary Melbourne South, established the Care Pack Project to assist the hospital and her friend, Elsa Carr, The Alfred’s Psychiatric Unit's Chief Social Worker.
The project quickly gained support from other Rotary Clubs and is now managed as a consortium of St Stephen’s Church Gardenvale, Rotary Donations in Kind, plus Rotary Albert Park, Glen Eira, Hawthorn, Malvern, Melbourne South, Port Melbourne and Prahran with matched funding from a Rotary Foundation District Grant. Club members volunteer to source the items and pack the bags.
Individuals and corporate organisations donate many of the care pack items and clothing. The project is advertised on GIVIT, a charity connection online platform, which attracts generous donors from across Australia.
In more recent months, via the work of Rotary Hawthorn members Dr Tilak Dissanayake and Katrina Flinn, the project has further expanded to provide similar care packs to Upton House, the adult psychiatric inpatient unit located at Eastern Health’s Box Hill Hospital.
The Impact Of The Care Bag & Clothing Project
The packs provide a sense of welcome and care, enormously helping the patients’ sense of wellbeing and significantly improving their rate of recovery. Also, by making each patient’s stay more comfortable, the provision of the care bags and clothing alleviates pressure on health workers to meet the needs of patients.
Between the two wards, over 1500 packs a year are provided to some of the most vulnerable in our community.
This project is a wonderful example of achieving more together, Rotary making a difference and how new projects can be expanded with the support of a District Grant from the Rotary Foundation.
For more information contact Bronwyn Stephens, Rotary Club of Melbourne South email: bronstephens@gmail.com
Or Katrina Flinn, Rotary Club of Hawthorn email: katrinaflinn@gmail.com