Sim Pande joins Belgravia Foundation team
Belgravia Foundation is pleased to be hosting Sim Pande, who is completing her Bachelor of Health Sciences at Monash University. Health Sciences provides a foundation in and a broad overview of health care, building skills in identifying, investigating, analysing and assessing health issues. Health science focuses on the practical aspects of health – understanding the anatomy, physiology, pathology of disease, as well as preventive strategies in health. It takes a broad overview of medicine, nursing and allied health in practice. Sim will be completing fieldwork placement with Belgravia Foundation and Belgravia Leisure.
While completing her degree she has been working part-time as a disability support worker. It is a position she holds with pride but has also exposed her to the unjustness faced by those who experience disadvantage. This experience provided Sim with other opportunities, including a volunteer position as a walking aid with Vision Australia. Previously Sim has been an active participant in fundraising activities to raise awareness for the special needs of the community eg. Pusat Ehsan, Brunei – which is a non-government, charity organisation committed to providing quality education, rehabilitation and training programmes for individuals with special needs. They recognise the needs of these individuals to be independent members of society and the importance of providing appropriate activities to achieve this. Their vision is “Enabling our Special Needs Community to live a meaningful life in society”.
Sim spent her summer of 2017 in Spiti Valley, India, building a greenhouse for a village of 12 families. The greenhouses developed by Ecosphere enable local farmers to grow vegetables not only in the summers but also in the winters at temperatures as low as -20 degrees centigrade. These greenhouses contribute to better health for the locals, reduction in emissions and providing them with an additional source of income. Sim trekked up to 1500m with 25kg ruck sacks and completed 100 hours of community service. It was a most worthy mental and physical challenge.
COVID-19 has placed a halt on most of Sim’s extra-curricular activities, so she has utilised this time to participate in Monash University’s online “Indigenous Cultural Awareness” Training.
Many of Belgravia Leisure’s values resonate with Sim personally, including the strong focus on customers and the attitude of respect, accountability and integrity. Sim admires Belgravia’s commitment to community and leisure and dedication to positive staff culture and is impressed by the knowledge of Belgravia staff and the great opportunity for career growth with emphasis on inclusion of people and continuous improvement through education and training provided to staff members eg. Everybody’s Welcome project.
Sim is interested in studying a Master of Public Health and Health Administration, with a specialisation in “Promoting Health and Wellbeing”. Specifically, this focuses more on health promoting palliative, geriatric and disability care and program development and evaluation. She hopes this guides her towards making an impactful change in policy reform and community development to positively help people with disabilities.
Sim believes working with Belgravia Foundation and Belgravia Leisure, paired with her dedication and passion for inclusion will foster her strong development beyond undergraduate study and will assist her in developing real-world experiences.