St Vincent’s Hospital Nurses Alumni President’s Report presented at the SVNA Annual General Meeting on September 11 2024
This is my first term as president of the St Vincents’s Nurse Alumni and I have held this position for less than 12 months.
It has been quite a first year with an almost whole new committee as many of our long standing committee members decided it was time to hang up their boots. Many thanks
to all of you who gave up your time to be part of alumni and the committee.
As with any organisation that relies solely on volunteers it is not without its challenges to fill the roles.
Welcome and thank you to our new committee members who have embraced the challenges and have worked hard to ensure we continue the good work of the alumni.
A special thankyou to the executive without whose contribution my role would be much harder.
We have been working hard improve our governance and there is now a very clear Statement of purpose and Governance underpinned by operating procedures
There are now a number of subcommittees, Endowment, Communication and Events and fundraising that also have Terms of reference.
I wish to thank Kathryn Lamb for all the time and effort she has put into this important body of work, Anne Black for the significant amount of time and effort into formalizing
our finance procedures and Helen Crowe for her contribution to the secretary’s role including the enormous job of cleaning up the membership list and google drive.
Kathryn has also been responsible for updating our website which now looks very professional and has a lot of useful information for our members and potential members
We have already two events this year, the memorial mass held in March and the Windsor High Tea.
The mass was held in the hospital chapel celebrated by Father Paul Connell. This mass gives us an opportunity to remember all our nurses who died in the past year.
The afternoon tea afterwards was a great opportunity as always for our members to spend time together.
The High Tea held on the 24 May, at the Windsor Hotel, was a great success, and it was wonderful to see many attendees introduce themselves and reminisce with Sr
Maureen Walters about their time at St Vincent’s.
As we are not an incorporated body we work closely with the St Vincent’s Foundation through whom we manage our money. We thank them for their support and assistance
especially around bookings for our functions. I would like to especially thank Rebecca Martin who has been an invaluable resource.
The Alumni sponsors a number of nursing awards and in May I had the great privilege to attend the annual Nursing Excellence awards and present the Graduate Nurse of the Year award.
Additionally, in 2024 an award was established to support an Indigenous undergraduate from a rural, remote, or regional area undertaking their Bachelor’s
nursing course at Australian Catholic University Melbourne or Ballarat campus.
The successful student will be allocated a grant of $2,000 per year for three years. This has not commenced yet as a suitable recipient has yet to be selected. We hope that it will start next year.
In July a number of the committee members attended a workshop with other graduate nurses’ organisations from The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Alfred Hospital and the
Royal Children’s Hospital. The purpose of the meeting was to hear how other groups work, the challenges we all face to remain relevant in today’s nursing world and what
can we do to improve membership. It was an enjoyable and informative afternoon and, no surprises, we all face the same challenges. We certainly came away with some good
ideas and look forward to the next catch up.
Thank you again to all our members for your support and to our hard working committee
Best wishes
Nusia Krolikowski
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Fancy a trip down memory lane? We all have stories that we can remember and share. If you would like to add your story or memories to this page, email stvsnursesalumni@gmail.com
An extract is below from the handbook given to all new arrivals at the historical Preliminary Training School.
A Nurse must be:
Punctual;
Obedient and loyal to all rules, as the foundation of her work;
Active, yet quiet;
Methodical, reliable, careful, clean and neat;
Observant, intelligent and economical;
Capable of self-control, persevering gentleness, tact, sympathy and common sense;
Careful to pay attention to professional etiquette, remembering what is due to those in authority;
Careful in manner and attention to Visitors or Patients’ friends, a duty Nurses in the pressure of their work are apt to overlook;
Careful to wear her uniform with spotless cleanliness, neatness, and simplicity; hair tidy, and general bearing that of military smartness;
Careful to be always guarded in her behaviour towards Doctors and Students.
Catch up with friends and former colleagues, share news, enjoy annual events and reunions, and keep up with what’s happening at the hospital. The St Vincent’s Nurses Alumni Committee invites you to become a member and help the Alumni achieve its goals.
Membership is open to:
- nursing graduates
- enrolled and registered nurse employees (current and past) from St Vincent’s Hospital (Melbourne)
- those invited by the St Vincent’s Nurses Alumni Committee to participate.
There is no joining fee.
To join, please email stvsnursesalumni@gmail.com:
Your name
Your email address
Mobile number
Year of graduation
Current or previous St Vincent’s employee
Any other information you wish to share