By Graham Davis
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Kate
and Michael Ribot De Bressac present a "thankyou" trophy
to CDRE Perry and Ms Benson at Maritime Headquarters
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Photo:
LSPH Damian Pawlenko
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Maritime
Headquarters has helped a new and vital hospital unit in Sydney
continue with its work. The unit is the 30 bed Whitlam Joint Replacement
Centre at Fairfield Hospital, which was opened a year ago.
On September 13 a fundraising ball attended by 260 people was
held at the Smithfield RSL Club.
During the evening a silent auction was conducted in which guests
bid for a number of prizes. One was a searide for two people in
an Australian warship. MHQ through the Maritime Commander RADM
Raydon Gates and his deputy CDRE Nigel Perry had authorised the
prize.
A company called Centapulse won the searide prize by paying $1,250
and two staff members will now join an RAN ship for the day.
The $1250 was just part of the $120,000 raised on the night, according
to Michael and Kate Ribot De Bressac of Global Orthopaedic Technology,
one of the strong sponsors of the centre.
“Of the $120,000 raised, $42,000 will provide a database so that
a track can be kept on patients who receive a replacement joint
years into the future,” Michael said.
“This will provide feedback as well as a guide to quality control,”
he said. Michael and Kate acknowledged the RAN’s help by attending
MHQ last month to present a thankyou trophy to CDRE Perry and
Kate Benson, the Staff Officer Visits/Liaison who coordinated
the MHQ involvement.
They already have strong bonds with the RAN. Their daughter SMN
Lindsay Pearce, 22 is serving in HMAS Harman, while son MIDN Adam
Pearce, 19, was in the July officer intake at HMAS Creswell.
With an estimated 3.1 million Australians suffering from arthritis
and with many of them eventually needing a replacement joint,
the centre’s workload can only skyrocket. “We need help from all
quarters,” Kate said.
