Category: Daily Life

First week back at work after a break, even a short one, is always busy but the past few days have been especially so. Greater Brisbane went into another lockdown due to a further community transmission of COVID-19. Touch wood, it seems to have been contained.

On Wednesday I had the class based delivery of my First Aid course. Surprised it continued during the lockdown, but made sense when I got there – all of us worked in the health industry. The instructor was excellent. A Scot and retired paramedic with a no-nonsense approach. Had to listen carefully to understand through his accent (and his mask). He turned previous training on its head by pointing out the really important things to remember, and explaining why they were important. Said that chances are, we would be carrying out CPR at home, on someone we loved, and we were the only chance for that person’s survival. That hit home.

Danger
Response
Send for help
Airway – vitally important, don’t tilt head until you know airway is clear!
Breathing check for rise and fall of chest, ear close to mouth
CPR – fingers off ribs avoids breakage, count out loud, keep head tilted
Defibrillation – increases chances of survival significantly, use if you have it

CPR is 30 chest compressions followed by two breaths, repeated until the paramedics arrive or casualty responds.

Recovery position – on side, mouth downward to keep airway clear

Choking – only a minute to act or they die!! Five back thrusts, five front thrusts, against a wall if necessary, with speed, alternating until the obstruction is forced out.

Broken bones – making the casualty comfortable more important than putting the injured limb into a mobility sling.

So, ankle. Talk about irony. After the class I was walking back to where I’d parked, looked away from the footpath just as it dipped, checking for traffic. Rolled my ankle and fell heavily to the ground. Ouch! After a few minutes (and some tears – it really hurt!) I drove myself back to work and applied first aid:

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation.

Had to laugh, my boss had a point when she remarked on my dedication to putting first aid theory into practice!

Having just enrolled in business studies, that will take me the best of four years to complete; taking on the company secretary role in addition to my existing employed role as business manager; I seem to be forever trying to fill a gap in my life. A gap of loneliness, a gap of purpose. I instinctively present a face to the world of someone who is smart and engaged and connected. The reality seems so different. I feel like a machine who has switched off sensitivity to pain from most human interactions, because it is so unbearable.

I am developing myself every day. My mind, my body. Why not my social resilience. I will look for ways to build this aspect in my daily life and forever try to make those connections, and not be too discouraged if they don’t happen.

Attended first discussion group at the Governance Institute of Australia offices in Brisbane yesterday, lead topic was Board Agendas and from this fed many related discussions and experiences on how company secretaries deal with the business of board meetings.

The group was diverse and interesting. There were two or three from large ASX companies, smaller companies, government facilities and not-for-profit. I was from the only ACNC registered charity, but others had experience. Sectors included mining, health, energy, education, legal. I spoke to a couple of people – Mel from one of the ASX companies in mining sector had fascinating experiences – 1000 page board packs and four hour meetings with directors spread over the country. Wendy from a JP Association – there are over 180,000 Justices of the Peace in Queensland, while only 5,000 in Victoria. Angela from an energy company, working on another Masters degree. Yikes.

Many of us had similar experiences in our dealings with Chair and management, chasing up action items and ensuring reports were written in a way that directors would read them. We discussed the style of minute taking – resolution v. narrative. I was interested in hearing how others handled dual role of co sec plus management role. A couple of people there combined the role with CEO which I found astonishing, even more so that they also took the meeting minutes.

I think the biggest takeaway from the session for me was that I am on the right track in my development as a company secretary. The GIA and AICD articles I read are put into practice in the real world.

It’s a rainy afternoon and H. is home and we are both enjoying the quiet, unhurried interval of an easy weekend at home. I am reading old British crime novels on my Kindle, and hubby is at the other end of our large living room enjoying Raiders of the Lost Ark on our amazingly big, second-hand flat screen TV. Each of us has a sleeping dog at our feet. It is peaceful (once you tune out the movie dialogue) and as I look out the window the sky is white and overcast with thick clouds, and a mist obscures the range opposite, on the other side of our little valley. The rain is coming down at a slow but steady rate. There are pools of water on the ground, it is sodden but the water tanks are not yet quite overflowing.

Tearful as I watched the events unfold in Paris yesterday. In the aftermath, trying to understand why. It is difficult. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris earlier this year many people blamed religion. A Foreign Policy writer, Christian Caryl responded in a way which holds truth again today:

The real problem isn’t religion. It’s a deeper psychological failure that afflicts humans of all varieties, religious and not. It’s called “fanaticism” — that eerie quality of single-mindedness that can lead even the intelligent and the educated to believe that the views they hold excuse any form of savagery.

It’s not official yet but some big news at work yesterday. It brought to mind a phrase “best laid plans”, which out of interest, originated from a Robert Burns’ poem To a Mouse. It tells of how he, while ploughing a field, upturned a mouse’s nest. The resulting poem is an apology to the mouse:

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you aren’t alone]
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry]
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promised joy.

www.phrases.org.au