The Australasian College of Paramedicine

17th Dec 2020

ACPIC20 donations for mental health

As a thank you to the speakers who participated in this year’s ACP’s International Conference, the College has made donations to charities close to the hearts of the speakers, and those supporting mental health, the central theme of the conference.

The recently concluded conference was held exclusively online, which subsequently eliminated many of the operating costs that support the speakers such as airfare, hotel accommodation, hotel transfers, etc. As a result of these savings, the College has donated $1,000 to various charities to acknowledge the contributions made by the many speakers.

Each keynote speaker was offered the opportunity to choose a charity – St. John Ambulance NT, KidsXpress and Coffee4kids Foundation, and St. John NZ were chosen by Judith Barker CEO, St. John Australia (NT), Shane Fitzsimmons, Commissioner of Resilience, NSW and Tony Smith Clinical Director, St. John NZ respectively. Keynote speaker Greg Page chose Heart of the Nation, an initiative aimed at promoting the chain of survival and those who play their part in it.

The College also wants to especially acknowledge mental health of our paramedics which predictably emerged as a common theme among several presentations at the conference. Conversations around the mental health of our frontline, emergency workers due to the global pandemic were heavily discussed.

As a result, the College has made a $1,300 donation each to Beyond Blue’s Police and Emergency Services Program, and Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand to support the mental health of frontline workers in Australia and New Zealand.

To help support the health and social impacts of COVID-19, the College has also made a $1,300 donation to the World Health Organisation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Find out more:

St John Ambulance NT

KidsXpress

Coffee4kids Foundation

St John New Zealand

Heart of the Nation

Beyond Blue’s Police and Emergency Services Program

Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand

COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO

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