Insurance Corporation bursary of £2,500 goes to paramedic
INNOVATIVE ideas from health professionals have been recognised through bursaries from Insurance Corporation to bring their propositions to life.
St John Emergency Ambulance Service paramedic Kelly Marquis was awarded the £2,500 top prize to fund her project, Cake and Consultation, which aims to reach out to the elderly population to identify problems before emergency responses or hospital admission is required.
‘It’s a really proactive approach,’ she said.
‘Often, people in the community, especially the elderly, are reluctant to get in touch with medical professionals so it’s a very good way of accessing people and dealing with problems in their infancy.’
She is currently on secondment with Health & Social Care for two years to further look into frailty.
Runners-up Rachel Le Prevost, chairwoman of Bailiwick Maternity Voices, and maternity and paediatric associate director Annabel Nicholas, were awarded £1,000 to develop a Bailiwick Maternity App to provide easily accessible information to expectant mothers and their families.
The other finalist projects were Shared Lives Respite & Carer Support Scheme, proposed by social workers Margaret Scarlett and Christine Miller, and Eat & Enjoy! Improving the dining experience for people living with dementia, which was the idea of PEH elderly care and oncology dietician Helen Simpson.
‘The passion, enthusiasm and endearing concern to improve the Bailiwick’s provision of health and social care is so inspiring,’ said Insurance Corporation HR and PR executive Michelle Steele on the event’s 30th anniversary since being launched by the company's founder Peter Walpole.
‘After a short stay in hospital, he realised health care staff had lots of amazing, innovative ideas to benefit the community but no obvious method of obtaining funding or support to make their concept become a reality,’ she said.
‘We are very proud to have made this contribution to local life for so long – year on year we are so impressed with the entries and we are so pleased to be able to give these projects their initial boost to get started.’
HSC operations director Matt Jones said the bursary scheme made a real difference.
‘The award drives innovation and directly supports our commitment to continually challenge and transform our services. All applicants fully embraced the ethos of the partnership of purpose and I would like to thank both our staff and friends at Insurance Corporation for their engagement and support of this important initiative.’
