WHEN Bruce Greenwood signed up as a volunteer treasurer of South East Palliative Care 23 years ago he had no idea what the service provided. Today his dedication to the organisation was recognised with an Order of Australia award. DANIELLE BUTCHER reports.
SINCE joining the Scouts as an eightyearold, not a year has passed without Bruce Greenwood volunteering his time to one organisation or another.
But in 1984, after a stint at many community organisations, Bruce discovered his passion - volunteering at South East Palliative Care.
Today his tireless efforts in keeping the organisation financially afloat has been recognised with an Order of Australia Medal.
He has been involved in the organisation since its inception and now serves as chairman.
"I was a chartered accountant and because my father, who was on the Dandenong Hospital board for 32 years, said to me that they were starting up a palliative care service and that they would need a treasurer.
"It was only the second palliative care service in Victoria at that stage. So I had no idea what palliative care was."
Originally the service operated
2 days a week out of a small house on David Street in Dandenong.
"There was one nurse and the palliative care physician, and about 10 to 12 patients.
"Financially for the first three years we had to fund ourselves and then gradually we got State Government funding. From then it has just blossomed."
SEPC, which has since moved to Cranbourne, assists patients from Springvale to Bunyip and Emerald to Westernport.
Bruce says being involved in the organisation has given him an incite into the human spirit.
"It is basically an organisation which initially I did not know anything about but now it is my passion.
"The care that they give and the dedication that the nursing staff and volunteers have is amazing. It is a marvellous service. I am so proud
of how it has grown over the
years."
He realised the real power of the service after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 1998 and had to face the possibility of dying.
"It gave me an incite into the patients' situation and what they must be going through. I had the experience of worrying about what was going to happen.
"I had to have chemotherapy and now I am in remission, but psychologically I know how draining it is on people.
"That is why we are so lucky to have a free service like SEPC available."
He credits the volunteers and nurses as being the real heroes of the service.
"I admire them because they are the ones who are dealing with the person who is dying. And then they have to come back and be bright at work - but they all do it."
Bruce says he has been a volunteer since his childhood in Dandenong.
"It is a matter of giving back to the community, and I have found the more you are willing to give, the more you get back.
"Just the feeling of being able to help others in need - I like doing that."
He says he has no intention of retiring from his volunteer commitments.
"I'll still keep doing community service. I'm probably the longest serving member of the SEPC group now.
"They don't say how many years now, they just say from scratch - I think they have stopped counting," he laughs.
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