Medical volunteers for the 2023 Sony Foundation Star Camp
Thursday, 10 August 2023
Are you a member of the Xavier College community with medical expertise, if so we invite you to consider assisting us with this year’s Sony Foundation Star Camp.

The aims of the camp are to provide a fun camp with a range of activities for children with intellectual and/or physical disabilities, aged between 5 and 15 years, and to provide respite for their families and carers.

These children will be in the care of current Year 11 and 12 students from Xavier College, St Kevin’s College, Genazzano FCJ College, Loreto Mandeville Hall and Our Lady of Mercy College for the duration of the camp. The student companions will be supported in their role by teaching staff from the five schools and by a team of medical volunteers.

The 2-day, overnight camp will be held at Xavier College. Medical facilities of the highest standard will need to be provided. We require medical personnel who are registered nurses or doctors to be rostered on each day, as well as on call.

We are requesting, therefore, that our medical volunteers do one 8 hour shift (morning, afternoon or night) for the camp. With five schools involved, we hope to be able to cover our medical needs in this way, although in the past some people have volunteered for more shifts.

A great deal of preparation is required to attend to the medical needs of each child.

A preliminary meeting for all medical volunteers will be held in the Dalton Room at Xavier College on Tuesday 14 November at 7.00pm. At this meeting, we request some medical volunteers to contact the parents of up to five of our campers before the end of November to gain background information.

These medical personnel would then need to be present for an hour at our companions’ Training Day on Sunday 10 December, to brief our student companions on the particular needs of their camper.

Finally, it is a legal requirement that all medical volunteers have a valid Working With Children Check.

If you don’t have one, you can apply for a voluntary WWC Check online (no fee applies).

It is now possible to get a digital WWC card for convenience.

Here are some helpful links:

•How to apply for a WWCC.
https://www.service.vic.gov.au/services/working-with-children

• How to obtain your digital card.
https://service.vic.gov.au/services/working-with-children-check-digital-token

• How to renew your working with children card
https://www.service.vic.gov.au/find-services/work-and-volunteering/working-with-children-check/renew-your-working-withchildren-check

When applying online, the following details need to be entered under “Organisation details”:

Organisation Name: Xavier College
Postal Address: 135 Barkers Rd, Kew, 3101
Phone: (03) 9854 5411
Occupational work code: All overnight camps for children Medical volunteers are asked to provide details of their medical or nursing registration and working with children check and sign a volunteer code of conduct form at the meeting on Tuesday 14 November.

Please email expressions of interest to Rasika.Crowley@xavier.vic.edu.au by Monday 21 August 2023.

If you have any queries about the Sony Star Camp feel free to contact me on 9815 4846.