| Paramedic of the Year |
|Aboriginal Health Worker Excellence Awards
The Paramedic of the Year Awards now in its sixteenth year was initiated by the Rotary Club of Darwin Sunrise to acknowledge the chosen vocation of paramedics through the dedication and service they provide in communities through-out the Northern Territory.
The Awards Committee is comprised of membership from both the Rotary Club of Darwin Sunrise and St John Ambulance (NT) who work in partnership to organize the annual event.
The objective of this award is to recognise the dedicated Northern Territory paramedics who provide a vital role in the Northern Territory community and whose work in most cases goes unrecognised. This award goes some way to saying thank you for the amazing efforts they put in and a recognition from their peers for their devotion to duty which in some cases, is often difficult and dangerous.
More information here
Or Download the nomination form here
The recipients of the award are as follows:
2015 Donna Winkworth
2014 Dean Featherstone
2013 Amanda McNeil (Darwin)
2012 Erin Maczkowiack (Darwin)
2011 Rhys Dowell ( Katherine)
2010 Samantha King (Darwin)
2009 Sue Gibson (Alice Springs)
2008 Beverley Hellyer (Katherine)
2007 Chris Wilson (Tennant Creek)
2006 Annette Ingham (Darwin)
2005 Anthony Wood (Darwin)
2004 Trevor Keatch (Katherine)
2003 Sue Murphy and Karen Joyner (Darwin) Communications Officers
2002 Peter Poole (Darwin)
2001 Anne-Marie Muscat (Darwin)
2000 Jim Leigh (Darwin)
The first awards were held in November 2006 in recognition of this group of professionals who are the bridge between remote communities and the health system in the NT. It was seen as a need by RCDS Rotarian Wendy Mackay who first tabled the proposal.
The unrelenting work undertaken by the committee (including Malika Okeil and Di Borella) ensured the events success. The was only 9 weeks between the idea to the event and the Rotary Club of Darwin Sunrise produced an event that is seen as a significant event in the health arena by both government and Aboriginal Medical Services organisations.
This event really did "make dreams real" for the Aboriginal Health Workers within the NT. The first year saw the categories of Remote, Urban and Acute. The overall winner from all of these categories was awarded the "Legend" award. This perpetual trophy is displayed in the NT Parliament House. The highly commended received a study bursary for $800 and the winner received a bursary for $1500. The overall legend winner received an addiClub was approached by the NT Secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union to be a partner in these events. The Aboriginal Health Workers are all members of this union. So, in 2007, there was a new category introduced into the awards - the New Practitioner. It is this category that will ensure that the Aboriginal Health Worker profession grows from strength to strength in the years to come. tional $3000. These awards would not be possible without the ongoing support of the Department of Health and Families, and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. And it is to these two partners that the Rotary Club of Darwin Sunrise says a sincere thank you to.
This was commenced by Rotary International in 1957 to provide an opportunity for voluntary giving by Rotarians and friends in support of the many educational and humanitarian programs of The Rotary Foundation. With the payment of US$1,000 an individual is recognised as a Paul Harris Fellow and may use the honorific PHF. The concept of making such gifts to the Foundation was slow in developing but by the early 1970s it began to gain popularity to the extent that in 1995 more than 470,000 Paul Harris Fellows had been added to the rolls of The Rotary Foundation.
- Click here to see the club's Paul Harris Fellows