Honours to SESLHD staff in Australia Day Awards

It’s often famous faces who grace the honour roll of the Australia Day Awards, but each year hundreds of ordinary Australians are also recognised for their extraordinary service to the community.

 

Equally uplifting is the fact that there are often several SESLHD names on the awards list. This year is no exception.

 

Three staff became members, receiving an AM. These are Associate Professor Robert Farnsworth OAM, Medical co-director, surgery and perioperative medicine program, Prince of Wales Hospital; Professor Brian Draper, consultant psychiatrist for Eastern Suburbs Older Persons Mental Health and Director of Clinical Haematology Service, NSW Health Pathology, Professor Mark Hertzberg.

 

Two others were awarded a medal – receiving an OAM. Fay Skuthorpe (pictured), President, Friends of Sydney Hospital, and Dr Harold Gunatillake, former medical practitioner at Sutherland Hospital.

 

Fay’s 35 years of volunteering began when she was knitting at the Sydney/Sydney Eye Hospital, waiting for her aunt’s procedure, when a supervisor asked if she would consider stitching together a few items for the hospital’s Little Shop. The Macquarie Street shop raises more than $80,000 a year for the hospital by selling knitted clothes and baby booties.



Fay also began pushing the refreshment trolley through the wards. The well-deserved recognition comes six months after the death of her husband Jim, who himself volunteered with the police for 23 years.  Fay says she has no intention of giving up. “It’s the highlight of my week, and I hope to continue on for many more years,” she said.