The Rodmell Fund, was founded in 2002 and is named to honour the memory of Joyce Crosson Rodmell as it seeks to further her ideals and achievements in nurse education. 

After an immensely successful nursing career as Director of Nursing at Sydney Hospital 1962 –1974, Director of Nursing NSW Health Commission 1974 –1977; Board Member International College of Nursing; Board Member International Council of Nursing (Geneva) she then spent many years in two nursing homes that paradoxically differed markedly in the care the nursing staff offered.  It is the hope of those supporting the Fund that the dignity and comfort of men and women in similar circumstances can be improved through the education of and pastoral care of nurses and other care staff that work unrecognised in an often-undervalued sector. 

Since its formation in 2002 The Rodmell Fund has provided education to well over one thousand nurses in the field of Aged Care with seminars in Dementia and Alzheimer’s, Pain Management, Palliative Care and Hearing Loss. 

The Rodmell Fund has an Advisory Committee made up of a Specialist Geriatrician, a Medical Specialist in Palliative Medicine, Clinical Nurse, Program Officer Aged Care Rural Palliative Care, and two Directors of Nursing.  This body of health care professionals, including doctors and nurses, advise the Rodmell Fund on matters pertaining to training. 

Started and administered from the Southern Highlands of NSW, recent outreach has been initiated into the Upper Lachlan Shire, Goulburn Mulwarree and Wollondilly Shire, with enthusiastic responses.  The need for rural community nursing support is very great. We aim to address this need as our priority. 

We are now seeking support in the way of “local fundraising committees” to help us fund our expansion into rural communities – communities often as small as 350 people with a 40 bed nursing home, who just don’t have the people or community wealth to fully bear the vital support that the nurses and carers need. 

The Rodmell Fund holds Deductible Gift Recipient status by the Australian Tax Office.  It is incorporated under the Associations Act and is a Registered Charity. Donations over $2.00 are Tax Deductible. We have no paid staff or administrators. Every cent of every dollar raised goes to the education and care of our nurses, and making them realise how essential they are in the lives of so many older Australians.
                                                                                                                                                                       

In an obituary published in the Sydney Morning Herald in November 2000, Joyce Rodmell was described as “one of the most notable directors of nursing in modern times…[and the] changes she introduced [in the 1960s and 70s] took many years for others to follow.” 

Joyce Rodmell was a visionary and a reformer.  She believed nurses had their own role to play and not a subservient one.  She saw nurses as a vital part of the health team, and worked assiduously to ensure that the nursing staff recognised their own worth in health care.

JOYCE CROSSON RODMELL OBE,  CNA, FNSWCN 1917 – 2000.

JANICE MARGARET JONES OAM, AICA  The President of the Rodmell Fund from 2002 to 2018, Jan Jones, was awarded an ORDER OF AUSTRALIA MEDAL in the Australia Day Honours January 2018.