Safety support for compassionate care

Image of the Mobile Duress Alarm

Eastern Palliative Care (EPC) staff provide vital care to people living with a terminal illness, often visiting clients in their homes late at night or in challenging circumstances. While their work is vital and meaningful, it can sometimes place them in vulnerable situations.

Thanks to fundraising from the Blackburn Freemasons Lodge ($2,600) `increased with an additional $10,000 from a Freemasons Foundation Victoria Masonic Grant, EPC can now roll out Mobile Duress Alarms for its clinical staff.

These small, discreet devices mean that at the press of a button, help is immediately available, giving staff the reassurance they need to focus fully on caring for clients and their families.

"This means our staff can feel safe and confident to concentrate on their important work of helping terminally ill people in our community to live well every day,”

EPC has been a beneficiary of support from the Freemasons membership and FFV in 2023 and 2024, when donations via Blackburn United Lodge and the Lodge of Quest Ringwood supported the organisation with more than $14,ooo to purchase palliative care equipment.