Grace Parbery

Grace Parbery was a social worker in NSW, Australia, born in Sydney 23 September 1913.[1] She attended Sydney Girls’ High School in 1928 and lived in Marrickville. She studied to become an almoner (medical social worker) at the University of Sydney (Cert.Soc.Stud., 1939) working at the Rachel Forster Hospital for Women and Children, Redfern. Parbery worked for the Australian Red Cross Society during World War II gaining experience in mental health care. She later worked as an almoner at the Royal Newcastle Hospital (RNH).[2]

She wrote an article ‘The Almoner Department in the Royal Newcastle Hospital’ in the Australian Journal of Social Work (1950) that detailed the work of an almoner in all areas of medicine, as well as in the community. [3] She specifically describes the role of staff working in the Newcastle public health service. Parbery worked with geriatrician Richard Gibson in the Hunter Region during the 1950s, specialising in the care of people with multiple sclerosis and the aged with a disability. They produced a report on domiciliary, nursing, and medical care, which was supported by the Christian McCaffrey (RNH) medical superintendent and the hospital board. A model developed by Parbery and Gibson saw aged patients receive care and rehabilitation in their own homes, known as the domiciliary care service and retraining unit (1954). was established, providing in-patient care, a day hospital, and home support. Parbery’s work as an almoner was crucial in establishing this innovative geriatric service (also known as the ‘Newcastle Experience’) [4], an approach to domiciliary care that influenced practices in Australia and around the world. she was senior medical social worker at the RNH from 1969 until her retirement in 1973.[5]

In 1986 Parbary was awarded the OAM. [6] Parbery never married. She died on 15 March 1993 at New Lambton Heights. [7] In 1994 the Grace Parbery award was initiated by the Hunter branch of the Australian Association of Social Workers in her memory. [8]

References

1. Ann Hardy, 'Parbery, Grace Mary (1913–1993)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/parbery-grace-mary-18710/text30308, published online 2017, accessed online 9 August 2020.
2. Marsden, Susan, assisted by Cynthia Hunter. The Royal: A Castle Grand, a Purpose Noble, the Royal Newcastle Hospital 1817–2005. New Lambton, NSW: Hunter New England Area Health Service, 2005.
3. Parbery, Grace. ‘The Almoner Department in the Royal Newcastle Hospital.’ Australian Journal of Social Work 3, no. 4 (1950): 1–4.
4. Gibson, R. M. ‘The Newcastle Experience.’ In Recent Advances in Gerontology, edited by Hajime Orimo, Kaoru Shimada, Masami Iriki, and Daisaku Maeda, 389–93. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica, 1979.
5. University of Newcastle. Cultural Collections. Royal Newcastle Hospital. A7376 (ii), Correspondence Files and Miscellanea
6. Newcastle Herald. ‘Pioneer in Scheme for Disabled Honoured.’ 19 January 1986, 6.
7. Newcastle Herald. ‘RNH Pioneer Noted for Teamwork.’ 17 March 1993, 9.
8. Australian Social Work. ‘In Memoriam: Grace Mary Parbery.’ 47, no. 2 (June 1994): 16.