Student Interviews

SVM student wins $15,000 in funding from Queensland Government with persuasive course assignment

Interview with Blue Care's Sallyanne LeGros

The School of Volunteer Management (SVM) student Sallyanne LeGros recently succeeded in gaining funding of $15,000 for a volunteer training program that was originally developed as part of her SVM course assessment.

Sallyanne LeGros, coordinator of volunteer services at not-for-profit Blue Care in Wynnum, Brisbane, developed the volunteer training program for Blue Care by researching, writing and winning a grant from the Queensland Government's Gambling Community Benefit Fund (GCBF), a foundation set up by the government to distribute taxes received from gambling activities.

Blue Care has been providing community-based nursing in Queensland and northern NSW for 50 years and nursing services have expanded to include residential aged care, respite services and community care packages. At Wynnum there is a large volunteer workforce of 70 people of all ages involved in the centre's varied services.

"I was absolutely stoked when I received the letter saying we were successful with the funding submission", Sallyanne said. "It has so many benefits for everyone within our centre at Wynnum and within Blue Care. This grant will enable us to improve our volunteer training program and ultimately train volunteers more effectively. This has been my main goal in 2006 and, with this funding, it can now proceed".

All volunteers will attend an orientation session and a session on occupational health and safety. Volunteers will now have a choice of programs and be able to choose training relevant to their important and necessary roles in communication, dementia, palliative care and grief and loss. Sessions in these specialised areas are held regularly at Blue Care.

"Our new level of training will make a marked difference. It helps to have a variety of resources to present information since people learn in different ways. As well, the training content is going to be interesting and new", she said.

"Better volunteer training means they can perform their roles with greater skill, have greater awareness of residential or client issues and have a better understanding of how to work with clients and their families and are more confident in their ability to perform their roles", Sallyanne said.

The funding may be the 'answer to all our prayers'. It will pay for new training material and equipment such as a laptop, data projector, projection screen, educational videos, a TV and DVD player and Blue Care recruitment banners.

The grant will be used not only for training but recruitment since recruitment is an ongoing issue. "There's always a big volunteer turnover. Now, we can get banners to help our recruitment effort at shopping centres and at expos in order to promote Blue Care and the ethos of our volunteer service. We always have a number of short-term volunteers but we need to retain them for the long term".

"Often, when volunteers start their training in aged care, they are keen on learning more or even pursuing a career in aged care. So, there are ongoing benefits to clients, our organisation and the volunteers themselves."

Sallyanne started SVM's Diploma of Volunteer Management Practices in late 2003 taking 2.5 years to complete her diploma while fitting it in with full-time work. The challenges of distance education were mostly eliminated by the phone and email support provided by Sydney-based SVM staff. (The Diploma of Volunteer Management Practices has now been replaced by the Diploma of Business BSB50101 which is customised specifically for volunteer managers.)

Sallyanne already holds a Bachelor in Business Human Resource Management but said: "My degree didn't include subjects on volunteer management so I wanted a qualification that focused specifically on volunteer management".

SVM's Diploma of Volunteer Management Practices is valuable because "it motivated me to do a lot of practical projects and assignments which I could apply directly to my role as volunteer manager and then implement within the centre and gain measurable results from the clients", said Sallyanne.

Obtaining the funding was a beneficial way for Sallyanne to complete the course and it will greatly benefit Blue Care.