Thursday 21 July 2011
Hospice New Zealand

Ten hospice staff around the country will undertake various courses of study this year thanks to the generosity of BNI, national partner of Hospice New Zealand.

2011 is the fifth year that BNI has supported the scholarship programme as part of their ongoing commitment to supporting hospice.

"While BNI is a business organisation, the core of our philosophy is “Givers Gain’ – we believe that when we give money, time and resources we grow as human beings, as businesses and as communities.

“Hospice staff do vital work and society would be a poorer place without them, so we value and enjoy the opportunity we have to support them in any way we can – long may their work continue.” Said Graham Southwell, BNI National Director.

Anyone in any role working for hospice is eligible to apply for a scholarship – in 2011 23 applications were received and ten scholarships awarded.

The scope of the scholarship programme encompasses all areas of palliative care – recipients chosen course of study includes clinical symptom management, masters in nursing study, advanced volunteer management, human resources, psychosocial issues and a paper towards a doctoral thesis in health science.

Julie Jensen, Manager of Volunteer Services at North Haven Hospice in Whangarei says the advanced volunteer management training she attended was “inspiring and uplifting – reaffirming the value of what the hospice volunteers contribute to the services we provide to patients and their families and empowering personally in my role as manager of this large team.

“It also challenged me to engage more intentionally with other organizations whose workforce includes volunteers – to ensure we continue to share the knowledge and strive for best practice Volunteer Management. Thank you so much BNI”.

As national partner of hospice, each of the 131 BNI chapters throughout the country work regularly to raise funds and awareness of their local hospice service. In 2010 their initiatives and hard work resulted in a donation of over $129,000 being made.

“The ongoing commitment of BNI at a national level through the scholarship programme and at a community level is so greatly appreciated by everyone at hospice and also benefits people and their families who are using hospice services” said Mary Schumacher, CEO, Hospice NZ.

ENDS

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