Mitchelton Rotary Club has seen many challenges in its 50 years of community service, none more confronting than the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.  Throughout lockdown and restrictions the club has continued to support our struggling local organisations with financial donations toward their ongoing work in the community.

The Club were successful in securing a Rotary District Grant in March for a defibrillator for the Picabeen Community Centre.  Our then President, Sandy Maguire, made contact with the Mitchelton Ambulance Station to co-ordinate a training session on how to use the machine as part of the Presentation to the Centre.

We were finally able to turn this in to a reality with the presentation of the defibrillator to the Picabeen Community Centre on the 21st July 2020.  Dean Parham, Mitchelton Rotary Club President, presented the machine to Martin Turrell, President of Picabeen and Martin responded with a warming speech of thanks for the donation and recognised the important work that local community organisations do before, through and after Covid-19.

 

Following the presentation Mitchelton Ambulance Station Officers, Michael Dorman and Eugene O’Mara, gave a demonstration on how the Defibrillator works, where the best location for the equipment would be and the importance of a defibrillator in saving lives. Picabeen Community Centre Manager, Jillian Warren, and Mitchelton Rotary President, Dean Parham, gave a theatrical demonstration of how to use the defibrillator with guidance from our paramedics.  All staff, volunteers, students and Rotary Club members were encouraged to get involved and understand how to use the equipment.

After the formalities of the presentation, Picabeen hosted a lovely morning tea in the outdoor garden and we had an opportunity to meet some of the volunteers from the Centre and speak with the paramedics about the defibrillator.

Mitchelton Rotary Club continues building a road to recovery through these unique times by way of online meetings and continuous out of the box thinking for our fundraising projects that assist the local community. If you are interested in learning more about what we do in the community and internationally, visit our Mitchelton Rotary Club facebook site or get in touch with our president Dean at info@mitcheltonrotaryclub.org.au