Dorothy Richardson receives RSL LifeCare Milne-Wood award
Ballina Ex-Services resident and volunteer Mrs Dorothy Richardson, age 94, was presented with the RSL LifeCare Milne-Wood Award at a special celebratory event in Sydney.
Mrs Richardson, who was flown to Sydney especially for the presentation, was selected from many nominations throughout NSW for her tireless work assisting RSL LifeCare residents and clients.
Dorothy is a Retirement Living resident at Ex-Services, and devotes around 30 hours each week to helping people.
“Mrs Richardson has made an exceptional contribution to the lives of others in care at Ex-Services Ballina, and is a very worthy winner of this prestigious award,” said RSL LifeCare Chairman, Rod White.
“Dorothy has unwavering respect for the privacy and dignity of the elderly. She spends time supporting residents with dementia, assists residents who are vision impaired, and also seeks to spend time with those who are feeling lonely.”
Pam Osborne, Director of Nursing at Ballina Ex-Services, is very proud of Dorothy.
“Dorothy spends time talking with and reassuring people, taking them for walks or simply holding their hand,” she said.
“She encourages residents to take part in activities, and will often bring our more shy residents to and from an activity, and stay with them throughout to provide support and guidance.
“Through her kindness and caring, Dorothy helps provide our residents with a sense of belonging, well-being and self-worth.”
Dorothy is fittingly humble about receiving the award.
“When the call came, I thought it was someone trying to sell me something, and it was one of the few times in my life when I was literally blank,” she said.
Dorothy says that helping others is in the genes, and she gets a lot of pleasure from her volunteering role.
“My feeling is that while I can keep doing this work, I will,” she said.
“It’s not my style to just sit; I like to be busy, and it is really rewarding to see people blossom. Some residents are quite reliant on me, and we have some mad times and some sad times, but mostly we spend a lot of time giggling.”
RSL LifeCare is a charitable organisation providing retirement living, nursing home and community care for some 4500 people throughout NSW.
Ballina Ex-Services provides a leading aged care service, which is underpinned by a team of dedicated staff whose primary objective is to ensure that residents live in comfort and with dignity.
The Milne-Wood Award is offered annually by the Board of RSL LifeCare to people who have made an outstanding contribution to the service.
PICTURE: Dorothy Richardson (right) and resident Mary Johnstone enjoy a quiet moment together in the gardens at Ex-Services Ballina.
