$35k Scholarship win

The dedication of a South Australian quality improvement leader has been rewarded handsomely with a generous national prize.

Above: Executive Chairman of Provider Assist, Peter Watson, scholarship winner, Lai Woon Kong and Peter Morley, Marketing Director, Provider Assist.

By Keryn Curtis

Congratulations to Lai Woon Kong, quality project officer for health and community services at ACH Group in South Australia, who was the 2012 winner of Provider Assist’s National Scholarship.

Lai Woon’s prize, valued at $35,000, included registration, international travel, airfares and accommodation for both herself and her CEO to attend the two week SAGE study tour to Europe which departed this week.  The tour takes in six leading facilities in Brussels, Luxembourg and Duisburg, as well as round-table discussions with European policy makers from government and industry and conference attendance for the European Association of Homes and Services for the Aged (EAHSA) bi-annual conference in Malta.

While Lai Woon has departed on the trip, ACH Group said in a statement that she had received the award for her achievements “across the whole of the aged care industry – not just ACH Group.  This includes her involvement with the Aged and Community Services (ACS) SA & NT Quality Improvement Group, participation as a volunteer peer appraiser against the HACC National Service Standards and in assisting Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities with embedding quality systems in preparation for HACC appraisals.”

“At ACH Group, Lai Woon successfully led the Health and Community Services division through a number of funding and accreditation reviews in 2010 and continues to demonstrate a high level of commitment to her role.”

Executive Chairman of Provider Assist, Peter Watson, said the company prides itself on giving back to the industry and the community.  

“It is an opportunity for anyone with a passion for aged care to be recognised and rewarded. We had hundreds of responses to this year’s scholarship and it’s been a pleasure to be part of this exciting initiative,” said Mr Watson. 

“The quality of nominations made it very difficult to pick just one winner.  This year’s nominees are worth a particular mention as judging was extremely close due to the high calibre of their applications.” 

“We hope the Scholarship Program will change some of the lives of those that change so many, every day,” he said.

Provider Assist has announced that they will again sponsor a scholarship in 2013 and applications will be opening soon.  Please check the Provider Assist website for regular updates.

The win was announced at the ACSA National Conference on the Gold Coast on 3 September.  The total prize pool for the Provider Assist Scholarship program, which includes State winners, is $65,000.

Tags: ach-group, eahsa, lai-woon-kong, peter-watson, provider-assist, sage-tour, sage-tour-europe, scholarship,

2 thoughts on “$35k Scholarship win

  1. Congratulations Lai Woon Kong! I loved your speech at the conference starting off with something like I think I’m going to faint. I hope the experience of the scholarship brings exceptional innovations to you and the aged care industry as you implement learning’s you have attained on the way.

  2. We are really proud of the scholarship, it provides a wonderful opportunity for one very worthy member of our community to benefit from seeing innovative practices. We very much look forward to hearing from Lai Woon Kong and her colleague, her CEO was already attending, as to the exciting initiatives they were able to see in Europe, and of course the conference content. Congratulations.

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