Board Chair Veronica Lawrance named Senior Citizen of the Year
Normally it’s our customers who we affectionately call our “Southcare Stars”, but today we are extending that to describe Southcare Board Chair Veronica Lawrance too.
You see, Veronica has just been named the “Senior Citizen of the Year” in the Community Citizen of the Year Awards by Auspire, the Australia Day Council of WA and the City of South Perth.
The prestigious award recognises and celebrates outstanding local role models who make significant contributions to community life and active citizenship, something Veronica demonstrates everyday through her involvement with Southcare.
“Volunteering my time in a governance role for Southcare is something I do with passion and purpose and treat as a priority because the decisions the Board collectively make, directly influence the lives of our senior citizens and those is need in our community, they are people that need to be looked after.,” she said.
“Being a senior citizen myself I understand what motivates this age group and where opportunities for improvement are, so it’s a privilege to use my personal influence to impact professional decisions through the essential work that Southcare delivers,” she added.
Veronica joined the Southcare Board in 2016 and has served as Deputy Chair since 2019 before being appointed Chair in late 2021.
Southcare Chief Executive Officer Dr Nicky Howe said she was thrilled to hear of the endorsement and echoed the importance under Veronica’s stewardship.
“We’ve known for some time that our customers and wider Southcare team are in good stead with Veronica’s influence as Board Chair, so to hear this accolade just strengthens that, particularly in a time when we are now living with COVID-19 and about to celebrate 40 years of caring and connecting in our community,” Dr Howe said.
“We quite literally have a Southcare Star guiding the care of our Southcare Stars!,” she said.
Veronica was previously Chair of Consumers of Mental Health and was formerly on the board of Advocare. She is the Director of Club Services, President Elect and PR officer for the Rotary Club of Mill Point. She has actively supported their major fund-raising initiative, Rotary Ramble as well as the club’s current major fundraiser the BulldustNBack Trial, now in its third year, which has raised over $90,000 for kids with cancer and youth mental health in honour of her late husband Jon Lawrance, local businessman and ex member of Rotary.
She has been active in the Curtin Mentoring Program and was involved with the John Curtin Leadership Academy in 2016 and 2019. Veronica was also a City of South Perth Councillor from 2010 to 2015. She has supported the South Perth Learning Centre in several roles and serves her community as a Justice of the Peace. She is also a senior lecturer at Curtin University and is undertaking a PhD in inclusive diversity on WA not-for-profit boards.
