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A week of law and volunteers: 14-20 May 2012 Canberra



Canberra, the capital of Australia, is celebrating both National Law Week and National Volunteer Week from 14-20 May.

Volunteering
Australians have always been known for volunteering their time. A 2006 study found that the portion of adult Australians who volunteer increased from 24% in 1995 to 41% in 2004, and the number of hours volunteered increased by more than 50% during this period. This is one of the highest volunteer rates in the world. Currently there are 6 million Australian volunteers across the country. Surf Life Saving Australia has the largest volunteer movement in Australia, with most beaches patrolled by volunteer life guards.

Greening Australia, a community organization, is hosting its first open day on May 16 at Aranda nursery with the aim of attracting more volunteers for landscape revegetation. Landscape revegetation includes seed collection, direct seeding and nursery practices, according to Canberra CityNews (May 10, 2012). These practices have been successful in bringing birds back to the region. There is an increasing demand and need for volunteering opportunities in Greening Australia. Over the past ten years, Canberra volunteers have contributed to more than 35,000 days cumulatively in activities such as Adopt-a-Patch, and have planted more than 800,000 native trees and shrubs for regional restoration efforts.

Canberra Hospital has about 400 volunteers in 17 existing programs. The hospital requires 60 new volunteers for the Intensive Care Unit volunteer program to “meet and greet" families in the waiting room. Often families arrive in the ICU waiting room before the patients so the volunteers will act as a link between the family and the medical staff. Canberra Hospital is introducing another two volunteer programs: the Ward 11A meal assistance program and the Way Finding program. The meal assistance program will assist elderly patients with their meals, such as opening food packages, cutting up food, or reminding patients that it is meal time. The Way Finding Program, commencing in July, will be introduced into the Women’s and Children’s Hospital to help staff, patients, and visitors to find their way through the new hospital.

Good Health magazine (December 2011) highlighted the health benefits of volunteering. When people donate time, their health improves. Apart from the “helper’s high” (a sense of satisfaction) that volunteers experience – shown on MRI brain scans – because “focusing on others causes a shift from our unhealthy preoccupations with ourselves and reduces the stress-related wear and tear on the body and soul” - volunteering has shown other benefits. Kindness, particularly regular acts of kindness, is said to stimulate the vagus nerve which controls the heart rate, therefore reducing blood pressure and inflammation. Health benefits of philanthropy and volunteering time, includes – (1) alleviating depression in both the short and longer terms, including lowering the level of depression; (2) being more satisfied with life, with a stronger will to live; (3) alleviating anxiety with fewer psychological symptoms caused by psychological conditions; (4) extending the longevity of a person’s life; (5) stimulating the hormone oxytocin which protects hardening of the arteries, dilates blood vessels, reduces blood pressure, and helps the heart to regenerate after damage; and (6) general overall happiness.

National Law Week
National Law Week is an annual event in Canberra, and across the nation, to promote public understanding of the law and its role in society, as well as raising money for a targeted charity. This year’s theme is “Law and Justice in your Community” and the targeted charity is Pegasus Riding for the Disabled. Pegasus is a not-for-profit community organization with a 40-hectare property in the suburb Holt that provides equestrian activities for people with disabilities to improve their coordination, balance, fitness, confidence, and self-esteem. Canberra events organized for the week include the Women and Justice Forum—a mock trial to raise awareness and discussion—and tours of the ACT Supreme Court, a dinner, a public lecture, and information sessions.
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