WITH almost three decades as a nurse and Lions member, Wendy Hellebrand considers herself a \u201clate starter.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the late 1980s, she juggled five children during her nursing studies at Geelong\u2019s Deakin University and started working at a Bannockburn doctors surgery the next decade.<\/p>\n
Around that time, she relocated with her family from Belmont to Teesdale, and became the first female member of the town\u2019s Lions branch in 1995.<\/p>\n
Now, after nearly 30 years with the group, Ms Hellebrand is being recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia for this year\u2019s Queen\u2019s Birthday honour list.<\/p>\n
Although humbled, she said she\u2019s \u201ca little bit embarrassed\u201d to receive the award.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything you do as a volunteer, it\u2019s not just one person,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t have the support of your team, your family, friends and your workplace you can\u2019t actually achieve anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a home, people that love me and the support network to do the things I\u2019ve done, which really gives me an inner warmth and satisfaction that you don\u2019t achieve from a lot of other things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hellebrand attributes her \u201cfirst love\u201d of volunteering to the example set by her mother.<\/p>\n
Her work in the area led to accolades like the Leo Tyquin Award and 2015\u2019s Rural Nurse Award, which she said are among her three proudest volunteering achievements.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother thing that\u2019s very close to my heart is coordinating one of the Lions\u2019 mobile skin check units,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe travel eastern Victoria into South Australia checking for signs of cancer, and already we\u2019ve done over 3400 checks over a 12-month period since we started.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Hellebrand said she\u2019s keen to share her OAM with the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not feeling it just for yourself, you\u2019re feeling it for everyone that\u2019s helped you,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s always a team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WITH almost three decades as a nurse and Lions member, Wendy Hellebrand considers herself a \u201clate starter.\u201d In the late 1980s, she juggled five children during her nursing studies at Geelong\u2019s Deakin University and started working at a Bannockburn doctors surgery the next decade. Around that time, she relocated with her family from Belmont to […]<\/p>\n