Donations in Kind (DIK) does not only send containers overseas, but they also send items out into our local community. Last September, a local school’s dream of opening a health training hub came a little closer, thanks to the generosity of the Rotary Club of Berwick & DIK. A donation from DIK of almost $50,000 in medical equipment (including five hospital beds) has gone towards Hallam Senior College’s Allied Health Training Centre, which is now finally open to student training.
 
Other items, such as bedside tables, over bed cupboards, day chairs, wheelchairs, transfer boards, body lifters, crutches, physio tables, disposal gloves, and other equipment, were delivered to the school by a group of  Berwick Rotarians.
 
Community Services and Allied Health VET courses will be delivered at the new training centre, with more than 40 students expected to participate each year. The school will also transform a classroom into a simulated hospital in a $20-$30 million refurbishment project.
 
Recently, some of our members, including Roger Thornton, District 9820 DIK Chair, joined school staff and local politicians to learn more about this exciting project.  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 DIK & the Rotary Club of Berwick,” he 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 have the opportunity to finish school. It is so exciting to be involved in this project, supporting local youth. In the past four years since trialing the Young Parents Education Program more than 60 young parents have completed Year 12 education and are now in employed or undertaking tertiary study.
 
 
 
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