Season’s Greetings from the Community Engagement Team. It has been a while since I last wrote something for the eNews. I went on annual leave, blinked and now find myself knee deep in December, with only 18 more sleeps till Santa comes… yay!
Then it’s time for some rest and recreation. For some of us, Christmas and relax are two mutually exclusive terms. Last year my Christmas morning was spent in hospital (nothing too serious, just an inner ear virus), and then the remainder of the day wishing for it to end so I could go to bed. Quite the anticlimax to say the least. Silver lining (there is one in every dark cloud so they say)….it’s a reminder that I need to look after myself and take time out to recharge (cooking, cleaning, wrapping, shopping, stressing and writing 1,000 lists doesn’t count apparently– sorry).
This year, like the last (and probably the one before, if I am honest) we continue to be very industrious right up to Christmas. One of the projects that is keeping us busy and something I am excited about is some remote and rural engagement we have stepped into with Service NSW.
To ensure thousands of people across remote and rural regions of NSW have easier access to NSW Government transactions (drivers licence applications and renewals, driver knowledge tests, working with children’s checks, birth, deaths and marriage certificates, cost of Living consultation to access more than 70 government rebates and savings as well as drought relief). Service NSW have developed Mobile Service Centres to bring services into communities. The program includes four custom fitted Service NSW buses, which will travel around the state on three established routes – Northern NSW, Western NSW and Southern NSW. The fourth bus will be used for events and other projects. Each bus will be on the road engaging with communities across NSW for 46 weeks of the year.
IDEAS are extremely excited to have the opportunity to co-locate with the Service NSW Staff on the Southern NSW route. This means we will be providing face-to-face, personalised, verified and supported information on anything related to disability to communities on this route. This week we visited Wakool, Tooleybuc and Euston and next week we will be in Jerilderie, Coleambally and Lockhart (I will add the locations, dates and times for these below). These will be the last engagements for the year, and the service will resume mid-January 2020.
During one of these engagements, our staff member (Tash) met a woman in a chemist who was waiting for a script and happened to overhear the conversation she was having with Pharmacist about IDEAS services. The woman jumped into the conversation asking if we could give her information about something called the NDIS for her son. I love hearing these stories, which really reinforce the importance of face-to-face in place engagement. This is why we stretch our resources to the limit to be involved in such amazing programs like the Service NSW Mobile Service Centre Program.
I hope you have an amazing Christmas and New Year! Make sure you take some time-out to recharge because I have a feeling that 2020 is going to be even crazier (if that’s even possible) than this year.
Until 2020 – Angela
Service NSW Mobile Service Centre locations – Remaining 2019 engagements
Jerilderie - 10th December
- 10am – 3pm
- 33 Jerilderie Civic Hal, Jerilderie, 2716
Coleambally - 11th December
- 9am – 3pm
- Coleambally Community club, Kingfisher Ave, Coleambally, 2707
Lockhart - 12th December
- 10am – 3pm
- Lockhart Shire Council, 65 Green St, Lockhart, 2656
