Caring effort recognised

People who win awards for being selfless almost always hate the attention – and Pauline Milton is no exception.

The 83-year-old North Wollongong resident was announced as the joint winner of the 2007 Older Person’s Award last week for her work with the Healthy Cities Illawarra Aged Task Force and for her efforts helping support people suffering from Alzheimer’s.

As part of the Task Force Ms Milton has helped set up a bus service for people to visit patients in local hospitals, helped run a photographic exhibition for older residents and provided support to elderly people isolated and lonely in their own homes.

She was also involved in putting together a series of mobile phone workshops for older people that were recently held in Wollongong.

Ms Milton said her efforts to improve the lives of local seniors formed part of her personal philosophy.

“I think we are not put in this world just to look after our own interests, I think we all need to care for each other, so I suppose that’s the philosophy behind it,” she said.

Ms Milton said she was surprised and humbled to be chosen for the Older Person’s Award.

“Listening to all the things that people do (at the ceremony), there really are some wonderful people doing all sorts of remarkable things around the community, and there are lots of people whom one never hears about too, so I feel quite humbled that I should have been picked out from so many people.”

The awards were proof that volunteers are hugely important to the community, Ms Milton said.

“If it weren’t for volunteers the world would stop – or slow down anyway,” she said.

The Older Person of the Year Awards are designed to encourage the integration of older people

into the economic, social and cultural life of Wollongong and to recognise the efforts of those who promote older people in the community.

Kevin Johnson was also announced as the award’s joint winner.