Members of the Canobolas Lions Club handed over a $5,000 check to the Orange Hospital Cardiac Catheter Laboratory, an ongoing financial boon that’s improving our local cardiac care.

The donation is known as the Geoff Hill Memorial Scholarship, named for a much-missed member of the local Lions Club, who passed away a number of years ago. The money allows cath lab and coronary care staff to attend conferences and professional development training that they would otherwise have to pay for out of pocket.

This year’s scholarship allowed five staff members to attend the annual meeting of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, Nurse Unit Manager Kim Dickerson explained.

“So five staff received money and went down to Sydney, and I think it's probably the fourth year that we've sent some staff down. It's really great because they've come back very enthused,” she said.

“They’ve come back with lots of new ideas on heart failure, stenting for our cath lab, best practise for nursing. So it's great motivation!

“We’re very appreciative because there's a lot of staff who wouldn't have the funds to go otherwise, but want to continue their training. If it wasn't for the Lions Club, we wouldn't be able to.”

The Canobolas Lions Club’s partnership with local health service goes back quite some time, with the club estimating it has donated $70,000 over the last 16 years.

“It's gone to different areas of the hospital, but it's not just straight donations, but mainly goes to staff training,” Canobolas Lions Club member Phil Baker said.

“We were looking at ways of helping the hospital and helping the nursing staff, and we started donating the five thousand dollars in memory of Geoff Hill, and it's just continued each year… Hopefully, it helps the community.”