HOSPITAL auxiliaries from throughout the state came in for plenty of praise at the 76th annual conference of the United Hospital Auxiliaries of NSW, held in Ulladulla last week.
The conference - attended by more than 250 people - was held at the Ulladulla Civic Centre last Wednesday and Thursday.
Shoalhaven mayor Paul Green travelled from Nowra with wife Michelle last Wednesday to officially welcome conference delegates and encouraged them to "get out and smell the roses" during their stay in the local region.
Cr Green, himself a trained nurse, described hospital auxiliary volunteers as "angels" and said there was absolutely no way hospitals could do what they do without the help of auxiliaries.
"As a nurse I say 'thankyou' because it certainly made my job a little easier," Cr Green said.
He described their voluntary efforts as 'outstanding' and applauded them on their membership, commitment and vision.
General manager of the Southern Hospitals Network, Susan Browbank, saud the efforts of all UHA volunteers was greatly appreciated.
She said it was not only about the money those auxiliaries raised but also the services they provided.
Chief executive officer of the South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Health Service, Terry Clout, described the voluntary work of auxiliary volunteers as a "constant".
"It matters not where you go in the public health system, you can always find the work of the UHA," he said.
Mr Clout said auxiliary volunteers set a tremendous example for the community at large.
"You show that members of the community also have a responsibility to get out there and serve."
He said that example was "every bit as important" as the financial assistance auxiliaries provided.
Mr Clout also praised the work of SESAIHS staff.
"They too have an ethos of service," he told the conference.
Laughter the best medicine says Dr B. Looney
JEAN-Paul Bell lives by a simple creed: laughter is the best medicine.
And thousands of people, both here and overseas, continue to benefit from his ability to inject humour into places - such as hospitals - where humour is so easily lost.
Mr Bell, known to many as Dr B. Looney, was the guest speaker on the opening day of the annual state conference of the United Hospital Auxiliaries of NSW - and a very popular one at that.
Mr Bell and Bowral doctor Peter Spitzer were the co-founders of The Humour Foundation - the organisation responsible for 'Clown Doctor' visits to hospitals throughout the country.
Clown doctors now visit all but one of the major hospitals in Australia as well as many regional centres.
Mr Bell said it wasn't just about making people laugh or distracting them from their treatment.
In some cases he said it was about making a "human connection" through something as simple as holding a hand.
Mr Bell said he had great admiration for hospital staff.
"I take my hat off to them in terms of the effort they put in," he said.
"That's not to say they don't get grumpy - I can't tell you," he said, explaining that he had been kicked out of the emergency department of one Sydney's major hospitals on more than one occasion.
Mr Bell said the Humour Foundation was currently working on a new program for elderly people affected by dementia and has been working with patients as old as 97.
"It's about transporting people out of their perceived sense of reality for a short period of time," he said.
"The art is to act more foolish than they (the patient) thinks they are."
Mr Bell's work has also taken him overseas to locations such as East Timor and Afghanistan.
He told delegates at last week's conference that he was driven very much by the notion of 'universal family' and the belief that "without humour there's not too much humanity".
"They (people in places such as Afghanistan) deserve a laugh as much as anyone else on the planet," he said.
Mr Bell said he was so deeply affected by his first visit to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, and the disgusting conditions in one of the city's hospitals, that he later returned with two tonnes of hospital equipment in a bid to make a difference.
The trip - which Mr Bell made with his second wife, a midwife - is the subject of a documentary titled 'Honeymoon in Kabul' scheduled to screen on ABC later this year.
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