The peak body for the remote health work­force is call­ing upon every­day Aus­tralians to iden­ti­fy nurs­es, mid­wives and oth­er health pro­fes­sion­als who deserve the industry’s top pro­fes­sion­al acco­lade.

The Aus­tralian Remote Health Awards are run by the Coun­cil of Remote Area Nurs­es of Aus­tralia (CRANAplus) and the not-for-prof­it organ­i­sa­tion wants to hear direct­ly from com­mu­ni­ties about who is doing a fan­tas­tic job, CEO Lin­da Kens­ing­ton said.

“Health pro­fes­sion­als are the beat­ing heart of many rur­al and remote Aus­tralian com­mu­ni­ties,” Ms Kens­ing­ton said.

“They are often the dif­fer­ence between good health and ill health – and between life and death in an emergency.

“Com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers now have a chance to give back to the health­care pro­fes­sion­als and teams who have had a pos­i­tive impact on their lives.

“Who bet­ter to iden­ti­fy an excel­lent local nurse or mid­wife than those who have received their care?”

The awards pro­gram aims to raise aware­ness of the advanced skill set required when work­ing in areas with few­er resources, greater dis­tances, and less sup­port than urban Australia.

It is part of CRANAplus’ push for increased resources and invest­ment in health­care in remote Aus­tralia, where health­care access is often limited.

“Cred­it where cred­it is due,” Ms Kens­ing­ton says. ​“Many health­care pro­fes­sion­als are too busy to nom­i­nate their peers and too mod­est to dob them­selves in, but we know we can trust in com­mu­ni­ties to help them gain the recog­ni­tion they deserve.”

Last year’s top award went to Reg­is­tered Nurse Katie Pen­ning­ton, who works and lives on the remote east coast of Tas­ma­nia. Pre­vi­ous win­ners have worked in South Australia’s APY Lands, New South Wales Far West and Queensland’s Cape York, among oth­er loca­tions.
Award win­ners will be announced at CRANAplus’ Remote Nurs­ing and Mid­wifery Con­fer­ence in Mel­bourne this Octo­ber. There are sev­er­al award cat­e­gories to choose from, includ­ing the Auro­ra Award for remote and iso­lat­ed health pro­fes­sion­al of the year, and the Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award.

Vis­it crana​.org​.au/​a​wards to com­plete the short sur­vey and iden­ti­fy a poten­tial award winner.

More about CRANAplus

CRANAplus (Coun­cil of Remote Area Nurs­es of Aus­tralia +) is the peak pro­fes­sion­al body for the remote and iso­lat­ed health work­force. Our not-for-prof­it, mem­ber­­­ship-based organ­i­sa­tion pro­vides edu­ca­tion, men­tal health sup­port, career sup­port, and pro­fes­sion­al ser­vices to nurs­es, mid­wives, and oth­er health pro­fes­sion­als to ensure the deliv­ery of safe, high-qual­i­­­ty pri­ma­ry health­care to remote and iso­lat­ed areas of Australia. 

Media con­tact

Sam Richards
Com­mu­ni­ca­tions & Mem­ber­ship Man­ag­er
(07) 4047 6446
communications@​crana.​org.​au