BUSHkids Annual Report 2018-2019

Chair

Working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure our good health and longevity at 85 BUSHkids Council members have stepped-up their volunteer efforts this year, the behind-the-scenes work focused across the range of their portfolio specialities to support the leadership of CEO Carlton Meyn and the vital frontline work of all our staff and volunteers; on behalf of your Council members, thank-you all very much.

On the eve of our organisation’s 85th anniversary of service to Queensland kids and families and their communities, it is gratifying to see our BUSHkids teams continuing to expand the reach, breadth and depth of our high-quality services across the State. Following the official launches of our Early Childhood Early Intervention (ECEI) operations at Gympie, Hervey Bay and Maroochydore during the past 12 months, our network of EarlyStart teams has, overall, seen almost 1,600 children, conducted more than 8,000 sessions and had close to 1,200 NDIS plans approved. BUSHkids’ innovative eKindy ‘pods’ have almost doubled in number, from 14 to 26, over the past year, and now span Queensland fromTalwood and Yelarbon on the NSW border to Mount Garnett up in the highlands behind Cairns, and west to Jericho and Morven. The utilisation of digital technologies has also seen our teleHealth service mature from a multi-year research program and pilot study to a fully- fledged operational resource which, from eight of our Centres’ locations, is already reaching children and families as far afield as Texas,Tambo, Cloncurry and Birdsville. To support this rollout, we have a Development Application underway to repurpose one of our Brisbane precinct buildings as a central teleHealth base, this project driven – as with so many others – by indomitable CEO Carlton Meyn and my fellow Council members, with the energised engagement of our clinical leadership and frontline staff supported by Carolyn Searle.

Completion of the BUSHkids- funded telehealth PhD has fostered a fruitful, research- based relationship withThe University of Queensland and we have been extending similar associations with other tertiary institutions.These initiatives have placed us in a leading national role in the application of remote technology to remote health service provision. In tandem with this has been a re-energised focus on our organisational sustainability: looking ahead to an ongoing impact-orientated future, underpinned by our staff and their skills base. Looking back over our 2015-18 Strategic Plan we have, throughout 2019, consulted extensively with our staff, volunteers and leadership teams, held many workshops with much valuable input and expect to finalise and release our new vision for BUSHkids 2020-25 in the NewYear. The ‘hidden backbone’ behind all this work is our new Constitution , progress on which I referred to in my last report, and which was formally adopted at the 2018 AGM. The document is available on the BUSHkids website’s Resources page and I once again thank my Deputy Chair Gloria Ryan, in particular, for the enormous amount of work which went into revising and updating the 1982 iteration. Other Council members have been equally busy with their respective portfolios: Honorary Treasurer Allison McLean maintains financial oversight of our organisation’s steady expansion as vitally as Gail Huggins has supported our Clinical Services Manager Susan Harrison and her teams in stepping-up our already substantial outputs.

Julian Martin has drawn on his considerable ICT experience to guide the strengthening of our database, systems and security protocols to protect, support and enhance our expansion. Thank-you to all my Council colleagues for yet another year of sterling volunteer service and for your support of our shared efforts. On this heartfelt note, it is timely to offer both a thankful farewell and a warm welcome. David Ham oam has been volunteering his extensive skills and enormous experience to your Council since 2012 and, while he will be formally retiring at the 2019 AGM, he has – unsurprisingly, to those privileged to personally know the gentleman – expressed a real interest in continuing to support the work of BUSHkids in other ways as happenstance permits.You have served us through personal tragedy and national accolade, David, and our organisation has been blessed for your presence, contributions and time with us. Time is a commodity perhaps in short supply for our newest Council member, but we continue to be amazed by the stamina and passion so consistently demonstrated by Bundaberg’s Cr Judy Peters, not only in local government representation but also in her championing of the local Friends of BUSHkids group and, now, her willingness to volunteer on ‘another council’ – ours! Judy, your shoe size will undoubtedly be different to David’s but we are in no doubt that you will add further positive footsteps to BUSHkids’ rich journey; if I haven’t already said it many times: welcome aboard, and thank-you.

This enhanced regional representation on your Council has been a goal long in the making, and I am confident I will have more to report in this respect next year.While on this topic, on behalf of our entire organisation I also extend our thanks to Jane Prentice for her tireless efforts to promote not only the work of BUSHkids but also the welfare concerns of our client kids, families and communities during her term as the Federal Member for Ryan and the discharge of her ministerial responsibilities. Thank-you, Jane. As ever, we are also grateful for the Patronage of the Governor of Queensland and very much appreciate the interest and oversight of the Honourable Paul de Jersey ac and Mrs Kaye de Jersey.Your Excellency’s predecessor did us proud in helping celebrate our 80th anniversary throughout 2015 and we look forward to your acknowledgements as we approach BUSHkids’ 85th birthday next year. In closing, I reiterate the sentiments in my 2018 report, in paying tribute to the support of my wife Annette and my family – “foremost among all the families in our vast, always- regenerating statewide BUSHkids community” – and those words continue to ring true. Behind every frontline BUSHkids person is a not-so-small army of staff, volunteers, family, friends, acquaintances and local community supporters who, altogether, are the enablers helping realise the work we do for kids and families all over Queensland. Thank-you, everyone. Dr Neil J Bartels oam MBBS LL.M Grad.Cert.Leg.Med. FACRRM

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