Grampians Health team helps Pomonal students turn a page

In the wake of the destructive fires in Pomonal earlier this year, a step taken by Grampians Health’s Nursing & Midwifery Education team led to cheers and smiles among students at Pomonal Primary School.

Sue Thorpe, Director Education & Training at Grampians Health and Katie Lovett, Clinical Nurse Educator, visited the school recently to gift students with new book bags to replace those lost in the fires.

The book bags, which were generously donated by the Nursing & Midwifery Education team members, were decorated with indigenous art and native animal designs. Each book bag also had a book or two for the students.

“As an education team, we wanted to support the education of the Pomonal Primary School students in some way and donation of books and bags seemed to be a fitting way to do so,” said Sue Thorpe, Director Education & Training, Grampians Health.

Initially borne from the idea of supporting Katie, the team decided to extend the help to the entire school.

“We know the children had to be really resilient in the wake of such a traumatic event,” said Katie, whose children also attend Pomonal Primary School. “While the team rallied to support me and my family recover from the devastating fires, they were also keen as educators to help more widely in the community.”

Both Katie and Sue worked with the school’s principal to decide how to best support the students and eventually decided to donate new book bags. The education team also decided to donate books to replace those that were lost due to smoke damage in the school.

“It was a very meaningful gift for the children as a book bag was something they took to school every day, and it may not be the first thing that everyone thinks to provide after they go through such a damaging event,” said Katie.

She commended her colleagues for their generosity and thanked them for their support towards the community.

“Even though we don’t all work in the same office, everyone came together for a common goal – which was to help our local community recover from a devastating and unexpected event.”