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    SUPPORT: Gwen Dunn and Olive Karam turned a terrible situation of being in hospital with significant injuries into a beautiful friendship.

The silver lining to volunteering

Two dedicated Stawell volunteers have formed an inseparable friendship after sharing a room at Grampians Health’s Stawell campus.

Olive Karam and Gwen Dunn were leading almost parallel lives in Stawell, but had never met until Ms Karam was wheeled into the Simpson ward room where Ms Dunn was convalescing after a fall at home in August 2023.

Ms Dunn, who has lived in Stawell her entire life, worked at a dry-cleaning business and volunteered with the Salvation Army, said she fell after her leg was caught while standing up from a chair.

“I rang my son and his wife, and they came around. I was in too much pain for them to touch me so they rang an ambulance and I was taken directly to Wimmera Base Hospital in Horsham,” she said.



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“The next morning I was transferred to Ballarat where I had a partial hip replacement. I didn’t know anything about it until afterwards because they operated straight away.

“After a while I was transferred back to Stawell for my recovery.”

Ms Karam grew up in Great Western and spent much of her life in Melbourne before returning to Stawell 14 years ago. Since returning she has regularly volunteered four days a week at Grampians Health’s Bennett Day Centre.

In the same month of Ms Dunn’s accident, she fell while helping with bingo at the day centre.

“Someone yelled ‘bingo’ and I turned around to get a prize. The next thing I’m on the ground and I don’t remember what happened,” Ms Karam said.

“I recovered enough to walk to the car and drive home, but the next morning I didn’t feel right so I went back to bed and about 3am the following morning I was climbing the walls in pain.

“I rang my sister at about 11am and asked her to take me to the doctor. She came in and looked at me and said ‘no you’re going to the hospital in an ambulance’.

“It turned out I had cracked five ribs and my patella.” 

Ms Karam was transferred from Stawell campus to Ballarat Base Hospital for 10 days.

“They brought me back to Stawell in mid-September and they wheeled me into this room. I remember being peeved off because Gwen was already in the room and she had the bed by the window,” Ms Karam said.

“I was thinking oh my goodness I’m going to be stuck with this old bird, we don’t know each other and I’m going to be talking to a curtain ... but it didn’t happen that way at all.”

Both women struck up an immediate friendship that amused the nursing staff.

“We’re both pretty good talkers and we don’t know what we talk about, but we just talk,” Ms Karam said.

The pair continued their friendship after returning home from their hospital stays.

When Ms Dunn was unable to continue volunteering with the Salvation Army as a result of her fall, she said Ms Karam suggested she join her at the Bennett Day Centre.

“I’ve been helping out there ever since,” Ms Dunn said.

“I absolutely love it, having a chat with everyone and helping out with all the activities.”

Grampians Health rural workforce development lead and occupational therapist Kirby Egan said it was great to see how 12 months on from their meeting, both women continued to support each other with their healthcare needs.

“I was working with Gwen to help get her a personal alarm so that she could get help quickly if a fall happened again,” Ms Egan said.

“Gwen knew that Olive was also interested in an alarm so when I turned up to Gwen’s house one day, Olive was there too, and I helped them both at the same time.

“It’s been inspiring to hear how they have both turned a terrible situation of being in hospital with significant injuries into a beautiful friendship which has improved both their social and emotional wellbeing. It shows there can always be a silver lining from a bad situation.”

The entire October 30, 2024 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!

The entire October, 30, 2024 edition of AgLife is available online. READ IT HERE!