KATRINA BRANDON
By KATRINA BRANDON
PROVIDING services to our communities is one thing we all want to be recognised for doing in one way or another, and Kara Di Dio from Kara Di Dio Speech Pathology in Traralgon has just been awarded for her professional and personal commitment to provide services within the community.
Ms Di Dio and her team were recently nominated for the 25th Annual GBA (Gippsland Business Awards) under the categories; RWAV (Rural Workforce Agency Victoria) Outstanding Contribution to Rural Allied Health Award and Outstanding Contribution by a Rural Health Team Award.
Ms Di Dio and the team walked away with one award from three nominations, being awarded with the Outstanding Contribution to Rural Allied Health Award.
“We pride ourselves on giving a high quality service, to have that recognised, in the form of a nomination alone was incredible and then (to) make it as a finalist, then to win the category against regional Victoria was really amazing,” Ms Di Dio said.
“We were against some other outstanding health professionals right across the state who have an amazing contribution to rural health in what they are doing.
“I think it is good for advertising and getting our name out there amongst the Gippsland community. I also think it is really nice our team has been recognised for the contribution we are making to the Gippsland community.”
Having just have had their seventh business birthday this July, receiving the awards was a nice surprise to the team.
“We are really quite passionate about providing a quality service here in regional Gippsland where services are limited,” Ms Di Dio said.
“There is such a demand for speech pathologists in general.
“We’ve developed some partnerships with universities including the Federation Uni at Churchill to host student speech pathologists for placement. We are hoping that we will be able to encourage students to return to the Gippsland area to work once they have graduated.
“In our clinic we do offer a 10-week on boarding program for new graduates. Almost like an extension of their final year placement. There is a very gradual introduction to their client caseload, lots of opportunities to shadow senior clinicians, lots of extra supervision, lots of opportunities for learning, it is a really gentle and slow start so that they can feel comfortable and be real settled in their role.
“You only get one year as a new graduate. So having a position that supports you really well with supervision and a light workload will be so beneficial in the long term career.”
The team at Kara Di Dio Speech Pathology is a passionate team, causing them to have a large waiting list which recently they had to close until their team grows.
With that, Ms Di Dio expressed that she is very grateful for all their clients who have supported them and allowed them to go through the award ceremonies as well as her staff for helping achieve this goal.
“We are very thankful for our clients and to whoever nominated us for the awards, we don’t know who, but we are very thankful for those who recognised us,” she said
Team: Emily Sherry, Jessie Hilder, Monique Cawcutt and Kara Di Dio.
