The Russell Renhard Scholarship recipients 2017 announced

With a large number of high calibre submissions, our judging panel has now made their decision and we are proud to announce our 2017 QIP Russell Renhard Scholarship recipient.

We would have liked to support numerous organisations with the progression of their nominated project as it was extremely challenging for our judging panel to select a Scholarship recipient, as many of the projects have the potential to significantly improve community health and wellbeing.

For this reason our judging panel have awarded one organisation the 2017 QIP Russell Renhard Scholarship and identified a second organisation as an additional recipient. Annie North, from Bendigo Victoria, is our 2017 QIP Russell Renhard Scholarship recipient and Cobaw Community Health, from Kyneton Victoria, has also been recognised as part of the Scholarship process.

Russell Renhard was a pioneer in the development of quality improvement and capacity building approaches within health and community organisations across Australia. Throughout his career Russell dedicated his effort and expertise to addressing social justice, and supporting systems-based approaches, promoting access to quality services for all.

The Russell Renhard Scholarship honours the significant contribution made by Russell to health and social services, accreditation and continuous quality improvement. This Scholarship allows a legacy to be created for celebrating Russell’s life as well as recognising contributions to causes Russell felt so passionately about.

Annie North Inc will keep us up-to-date with the progress of their project, which will see them develop a purpose-built secure women’s refuge facility, driven by a new model of response to women and children fleeing family violence. The model will be captured and documented so that effective monitoring and evaluation can occur along with further enhancements, with an ultimate aim of sharing and implementing this model across other industry agencies.

Cobaw Community Health have also received a small amount of funding to support their project ‘Sharing the Wisdom of Families’ as they seek to recognise the lived experience of families experiencing complex challenges in their lives as a tool for change – for individuals, for families and for organisations.

Please refer to upcoming editions of QIP’s Community Insight, website and social media channels for updates regarding the work being undertaken by these two community organisations as part of the QIP Russell Renhard Scholarship.