In this week’s episode, Geoff chats with Dr Ramesh from the South West Indian Group who were the winners of the 2022 Woolworths Community Group of the Year Award at the WA Community Achievement Awards.
Dr Ramesh was born in the small streets of Chennai, Tamil Nadu South India. He qualified as a doctor from Stanley medical college in India and did postgraduate training in the UK and Australia. He has been actively involved in community support programs, charitable activities and cricket. His passion is to promote multiculturalism, harmony, happiness and peace. Along with a small team, he formed the South West Indian Group (SWIG) in Bunbury WA which shared his passion and vision: Breaking Barriers, Bridging Cultures.
South West Indian Group (SWIG ) is a not-for-profit community volunteer group promoting harmony, wellness, and unity through their Indian themed events and various fundraising and community efforts. During the Covid 19 pandemic, SWIG campaigned for ventilators in India. SWIG events contribute towards education for girls living in poverty as well as Aboriginal communities. SWIG, in collaboration with City of Bunbury Council, planted 260 seedlings on World Environment Day on the 5th June 2022.
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Links
Check out the website: http://www.swig.org.au/
Connect on facebook: SWIGBunbury
Contact The South West Indian Group at: swigbunbury@gmail.com.au
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Transcript
[00:00:08] Christine
Welcome to Inspirational Australians, where we share stories of Australians making a difference in their communities and in the lives of others. We at inspirational Australians acknowledge the Wurundjeri and Bunurong people of Kulin Nation as the traditional owners and custodians of the lands and waterways on which this podcast is produced. We pay our respect to elders, past and present, and those who are emerging and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At Inspirational Australians, we are inspired by the world’s oldest living culture and pay homage to their rich storytelling history. When we share stories on our podcast.
[00:00:57] Geoff
This week’s podcast guest is Dr. Ramesh,
[00:01:01] Geoff
who is representing the South West Indian Group or SWIG as they more commonly known.
[00:01:06] Geoff
They were the winner of the twenty twenty two Woolworths Community Group of the
[00:01:11] Geoff
Year Award, which is part of the WA Community Achievement Awards. It was such
[00:01:15] Geoff
a privilege for me to be there to witness all of the winners of course,
[00:01:21] Geoff
but SWIG fantastically, a wonderful social inclusive,
[00:01:27] Geoff
multicultural group, who all looked amazing on the night. But it was so such
[00:01:32] Geoff
a privilege to, to be there to witness their success. Now Dr.
[00:01:39] Geoff
Ramesh was born in Chennai in South India, and qualified as
[00:01:43] Geoff
a doctor from stanly Medical College in India and did post-graduate training in the
[00:01:48] Geoff
UK and also in Australia. Been actively involved in community support, programs,
[00:01:54] Geoff
charity charitable activities and cricket. His real passion, though,
[00:02:00] Geoff
is to promote multiculturalism harmony, happiness, and peace. He is part of
[00:02:06] Geoff
a group that formed the South West Indian Group in Bunbury and the West and which has
[00:02:14] Geoff
a real passion and vision for breaking barriers and bridging cultures. Dr. Ramesh,
[00:02:21] Geoff
congratulations to you and your members from SWIG for winning the award. And welcome to the podcast.
[00:02:29] Dr Ramesh
Thank you so much, Geoff, and thanks for giving me an opportunity to join this podcast as well.
[00:02:35] Geoff
Fantastic.
[00:02:36] Geoff
Well, it’s absolutely our pleasure to hear
[00:02:39] Geoff
a bit more about your story and that of how SWIG started. So tell us when,
[00:02:46] Geoff
when did we come about? And when and where did the whole thing start?
[00:02:54] Dr Ramesh
So the I arrived in Australia in two thousand eleven,
[00:02:59] Dr Ramesh
February and when I arrived there was a few scattered Indian groups,
[00:03:05] Dr Ramesh
Arab population around Southwest of Western Australia. And most of the concentration was in Perth or elsewhere,
[00:03:14] Dr Ramesh
mostly in Eastern States. And when I arrived, we felt a passion and
[00:03:19] Dr Ramesh
a need for building a multicultural platform that can be used as a networking area for not just for Indians,
[00:03:28] Dr Ramesh
but also the multicultural population of the Western Australia. So there was a team of four of us myself and
[00:03:35] Dr Ramesh
a couple of three others. We put our heads together in some brainstorming sessions
[00:03:41] Dr Ramesh
for a couple of weekends and then decided this. We could probably form
[00:03:45] Dr Ramesh
a group that will just not just promote India to Indians,
[00:03:49] Dr Ramesh
but also promote India to the non-Indians as well. And that,
[00:03:54] Dr Ramesh
so we started the group ourselves as the Indian group in late twenty eleven and
[00:04:00] Dr Ramesh
launched it officially in May two thousand throughout the Southwest Indian group shortly for swink,
[00:04:06] Dr Ramesh
which was the easier for people to pronounce as well. So that’s how we started. So we were really,
[00:04:11] Dr Ramesh
our passion was to celebrate the incredible India as migrant Indians to Australia.
[00:04:19] Geoff
Fantastic. There were four to start with how many are in your group now?
[00:04:27] Dr Ramesh
So when we started in twenty twelve,
[00:04:30] Dr Ramesh
we had only four members allowed families. Now we are looking at around seven
[00:04:34] Dr Ramesh
hundred to eight hundred members, including families and Children,
[00:04:39] Dr Ramesh
and not just the Indian population. I have to say it’s a, we have a membership,
[00:04:44] Dr Ramesh
but we keep it free. So we have a member. Our members consist of multi-national nationalities from Australia,
[00:04:52] Dr Ramesh
South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England and around the world. So we actually are probably unique in that,
[00:05:01] Dr Ramesh
that we have a global representation of ethnicities in our group. Even though we are not as huge
[00:05:08] Dr Ramesh
as some of the other Eastern state groups,
[00:05:10] Dr Ramesh
but our group is unique in that that our members are from around the World, not just from India.
[00:05:16] Geoff
That’s fantastic. And it’s so important to include people who are new to the country, who probably don’t know
[00:05:24] Geoff
a lot of people that have been connected into the broader community.
[00:05:28] Geoff
They don’t
[00:05:29] Geoff
know what services are available and how to access them. And to become part of
[00:05:34] Geoff
a group that supported is so important. So I
[00:05:38] Dr Ramesh
think absolutely yes. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:05:42] Geoff
So what’s SWIG’s vision?
[00:05:44] Dr Ramesh
So as I mentioned earlier, our passion as
[00:05:48] Dr Ramesh
a team is to promote multiculturalism and use of an Indian themed event as
[00:05:54] Dr Ramesh
a networking platform for the multicultural population. And really our mission and motto, if you like,
[00:06:01] Dr Ramesh
was really the breaking the barriers amongst the different cultural communities and
[00:06:07] Dr Ramesh
to bridge cultures ourselves. So we keep our simple strapline as you might have seen, was breaking barriers,
[00:06:14] Dr Ramesh
bridging cultures. So we want to be that bridge. We want to create
[00:06:17] Dr Ramesh
a sense of belonging to all the multicultural population in Australia and in South
[00:06:24] Dr Ramesh
East and by bunbury as well. So really our mission was breaking culture, breaking barriers and bridging cultures.
[00:06:32] Geoff
Critically important.
[00:06:33] Dr Ramesh
Absolutely.
[00:06:35] Geoff
What are some of the events that you undertake to bring people together?
[00:06:40] Dr Ramesh
So when we started it earlier in twenty twelve,
[00:06:44] Dr Ramesh
we really were promoting our networking platforms as Bollywood themed events and we evolved we created some flagship events,
[00:06:54] Dr Ramesh
one of the most Diwali of the festival of lights. And we’ve been running it for the
[00:06:58] Dr Ramesh
last eleven years with a sell out crowd that ranges anything between six hundred to seven hundred people
[00:07:04] Dr Ramesh
since two thousand twelve. And we also,
[00:07:07] Dr Ramesh
we just didn’t want to do just Indian Bollywood themed events. So we also done
[00:07:11] Dr Ramesh
a lot of Community wellness programs such as yoga, meditation, and last year, the year before,
[00:07:18] Dr Ramesh
as well. And last year we didn’t. We did some local tree planting events with the
[00:07:23] Dr Ramesh
City of Bunbury Council. And we planted about two hundred and eighty seedlings in last June in the,
[00:07:29] Dr Ramesh
on the world environment day on the fifth of June. And we were evolving as we
[00:07:35] Dr Ramesh
growing in population and growing in membership. But we are trying to develop more
[00:07:40] Dr Ramesh
and more community themed events and we are planning to do blood drive blood transfusions,
[00:07:46] Dr Ramesh
camps and various other charitable activities. So that that’s what we are doing.
[00:07:51] Dr Ramesh
But our flagship events are being Holi, the colour by colour kristie. Well, along with the Diwali,
[00:07:58] Dr Ramesh
which happens usually around November and well represented by the local, multicultural population, including schoolchildren,
[00:08:05] Dr Ramesh
and attended by several dignitaries. So from the politicians on to the businesses, this one
[00:08:11] Geoff
would be amazing to bring everybody together in such a special way.
[00:08:17] Dr Ramesh
Absolutely, yes, yeah, we agree on that, and that’s why our event events have been well received,
[00:08:23] Dr Ramesh
not just by the Indian population in the south-west, but also from the non-Indian population as
[00:08:27] Geoff
well. It’d be great to bring children on a journey to have them at a very early age,
[00:08:32] Geoff
understanding culture and colour and friendship and that you, that you develop
[00:08:40] Dr Ramesh
agree. I agree, totally agree with that.
[00:08:43] Geoff
Some of your events must be very colourful.
[00:08:46] Dr Ramesh
Oh yes, yeah. All our events are very, very colorful,
[00:08:50] Dr Ramesh
especially the holy festival of colors. It’s we keep it along the ocean side and
[00:08:56] Dr Ramesh
well represented by also all ages and the Diwali events by themselves are
[00:09:03] Dr Ramesh
really a colourful joyous occasion. And we also keep it as
[00:09:07] Dr Ramesh
a family themed events. So kids from all of all ages that perform attend,
[00:09:14] Dr Ramesh
and also enjoy the buffet dinner we provide at the end of the evening. So that for
[00:09:20] Dr Ramesh
a family it’s a good night out at a low cost ticket. Prices are so
[00:09:25] Geoff
fantastic, so you’re not really just about social inclusion and about health promotion, bringing people together,
[00:09:31] Geoff
but also fundraising and very broad community activities.
[00:09:37] Dr Ramesh
Exactly. Yes, absolutely. We,
[00:09:40] Dr Ramesh
we just didn’t want to be. We wanted to be quite unique in that that we promote
[00:09:45] Dr Ramesh
everything, just happiness, joy, health and community wellness,
[00:09:49] Dr Ramesh
all in one package.
[00:09:51] Dr Ramesh
So we wanted to be slightly different from several other groups
[00:09:56] Dr Ramesh
that promote their themed events, but we wanted to be a slightly different
[00:10:02] Geoff
how do you fund your event? Some of these events would be quite costly to put together.
[00:10:08] Dr Ramesh
So our events and our team committee is really managed, mainly by volunteers. There’s no paid staff in our team,
[00:10:16] Dr Ramesh
so we’re all busy doctors or engineers or various other activity,
[00:10:21] Dr Ramesh
but their jobs. So we run mainly on volunteers and volunteer support and for the event overheads,
[00:10:28] Dr Ramesh
some of the events we rely heavily on the grants support from Lottie West,
[00:10:33] Dr Ramesh
the office of multicultural interest, local city councils, along with sponsors. And because in a not for profit group Association,
[00:10:43] Dr Ramesh
we really wanted to match the event or heads to what we raise as revenue. So we’ve
[00:10:50] Dr Ramesh
been fortunate and because a lot of the other events are free community events. We actually,
[00:10:56] Dr Ramesh
our time is what we call as an in-kind donation is really to support those
[00:11:01] Dr Ramesh
community free events as well. So we’ve been fortunate that we are well supported
[00:11:05] Dr Ramesh
by the local government and the federal and the state government as well. So we’ve
[00:11:11] Dr Ramesh
been fortunate and the local, the Indian consulate in Perth,
[00:11:15] Dr Ramesh
that’s been very supportive and our event and embraced all of our events very well as well.
[00:11:22] Geoff
I think the local state and federal governments are very fortunate to have
[00:11:26] Geoff
your organisation, your group South West Indian group in the community.
[00:11:33] Dr Ramesh
Yeah, we are also thankful to the mutual understanding and respect that we bring to us
[00:11:38] Dr Ramesh
once again to say the and of a sense of belonging to the Australian population and Australian culture.
[00:11:46] Geoff
They are fantastic. This episode is proudly sponsored by Woolworths who are supporters of the community achievement awards. In
[00:11:58] Geoff
Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia, we thank the team at Woolworths for the outstanding support of our community
[00:12:07] Geoff
contributes. How do you measure your success, the success of your events and programs
[00:12:15] Dr Ramesh
at the on the even day we measure our
[00:12:19] Dr Ramesh
success really by the one hundred percent attendance. And so far we’ve been having
[00:12:24] Dr Ramesh
sellout events for the last two years. B, community,
[00:12:28] Dr Ramesh
charitable events which are free or the wellness programs.
[00:12:32] Dr Ramesh
And the flagship event
[00:12:33] Dr Ramesh
is the Diwali festival in bunbury. And we’ve been fortunate and there as a measure as a quantitative measure,
[00:12:41] Dr Ramesh
we use the local media and also we use SurveyMonkey to measure what’s happening with our events. And by that,
[00:12:51] Dr Ramesh
we always look for positive and constructive ways to improve the quality of the
[00:12:56] Dr Ramesh
programs and the events so that it’s enjoyed by everyone. So we use those and we
[00:13:02] Dr Ramesh
have multiple feedbacks written feedbacks, and electronic feedbacks and various portals from the attendees. And we actively
[00:13:09] Dr Ramesh
encourage because we run purely on volunteer basis,
[00:13:14] Dr Ramesh
all reply and wrap up all the feedbacks within the first four weeks after an event.
[00:13:19] Geoff
Yeah. Fantastic. No wonder you so successful. How did you go during covid?
[00:13:26] Geoff
Were you able to maintain any programs online or were you not terribly affected?
[00:13:32] Dr Ramesh
Oh, yes we, we were bound by the local state and the federal regulations for getting during the
[00:13:39] Dr Ramesh
covid. As you’re aware, Western Australia has been fortunate for the first two years during the covid
[00:13:44] Dr Ramesh
outbreak because of the border closures and aspects. So during that time,
[00:13:49] Dr Ramesh
most of our events went online like the yoga and meditation events. And the Diwali
[00:13:55] Dr Ramesh
events that we ran, we kept it as per the government regulation in
[00:13:59] Dr Ramesh
a covid safe environment.
[00:14:01] Dr Ramesh
And we managed to keep everything within the
[00:14:06] Dr Ramesh
hygienic measures that government advised us. And we were able to function for the
[00:14:12] Dr Ramesh
first two years when covid was rampant everywhere else. But since then we obviously
[00:14:17] Dr Ramesh
managed to keep everything as a combination of almost like
[00:14:21] Dr Ramesh
a hybrid versions of programs between can we online and some face to face
[00:14:28] Dr Ramesh
events. And we’ve been fortunate in that way,
[00:14:31] Dr Ramesh
and we have also been actively involved during the covid not just here. We’ve also
[00:14:36] Dr Ramesh
been involved in covid fundraising activities, online portals and donations and so on. And especially when India was going through
[00:14:44] Dr Ramesh
a tough time in the second round of the covid attack,
[00:14:49] Dr Ramesh
we managed to promote actively for ventilators and other covid support equipments sent from Canberra to Delhi,
[00:14:58] Dr Ramesh
especially in some other parts of India. I imagine the prime one being the
[00:15:02] Dr Ramesh
ventilators. I spoken to the then federal health minister on behalf of the
[00:15:07] Dr Ramesh
southcoast Indian group. And we actively promoted with the support of local federal and state politicians as well. So that’s
[00:15:14] Dr Ramesh
a proud achievement of moments and to support and give back to the Australian and
[00:15:20] Dr Ramesh
the Indian communities around the World,
[00:15:22] Dr Ramesh
as well as making sure people don’t just go and don’t get hampered by the covid
[00:15:28] Dr Ramesh
outbreak that is happening around the world.
[00:15:31] Geoff
Yeah, fantastic. So I think I’ve said fantastic few times,
[00:15:35] Geoff
but what you’re doing is really truly magnificent. How many people do you think
[00:15:42] Geoff
swig may have touched or involved in an event or an activity across your years since twenty eleven?
[00:15:51] Dr Ramesh
So each year we look at our multiple events that we run right from the festival of colours,
[00:15:57] Dr Ramesh
to the charitable activities and the developments I suspect you’re probably attaching
[00:16:02] Dr Ramesh
to probably thousands through the year. And also the media photos that we have.
[00:16:09] Dr Ramesh
We’ve been promoting multiple other activities, not just our events,
[00:16:14] Dr Ramesh
and also some of the community wellness programs happening around the World and the
[00:16:19] Dr Ramesh
one other communist one being the International yoga day. So I think we have
[00:16:23] Dr Ramesh
touched probably thousands, not just through our events, but also through our online portals concerning where such
[00:16:30] Dr Ramesh
a small group in remote regional Western Australia. And I think we have that
[00:16:36] Dr Ramesh
several people through our multiple portals. Once again, going back to what I mentioned earlier,
[00:16:42] Dr Ramesh
it’s about bringing the sense of belonging to the population in Australia and
[00:16:47] Dr Ramesh
probably around the World as well. And our Facebook has been fairly active. And we
[00:16:53] Dr Ramesh
have probably about nine hundred followers along with some Instagram followers as well. So we’re still evolving, obviously we have
[00:17:00] Dr Ramesh
a day job of being the health professionals and various other things. But we try
[00:17:05] Dr Ramesh
and do whatever we can. Ideally we have multiple aspirations, but being
[00:17:10] Dr Ramesh
a not for profit volunteer run group.
[00:17:13] Dr Ramesh
We think we
[00:17:13] Dr Ramesh
are proud of what we are doing so far.
[00:17:17] Geoff
That’s really terrific. Going back to last year’s awards, it must have been
[00:17:23] Geoff
a real thrill to have been nominated and then to have made the
[00:17:27] Dr Ramesh
finals. Absolutely. Yes. We were really,
[00:17:31] Dr Ramesh
really thrilled to be nominated to start with. And we are also really thrilled to
[00:17:35] Dr Ramesh
be thrilled to have been there in such an eventful evening for us. Yes, definitely.
[00:17:43] Geoff
It must have been great validation to have been announced as the winner for what you’re doing.
[00:17:48] Dr Ramesh
Absolutely. We were so humbled and we are proud to have won the award,
[00:17:52] Dr Ramesh
especially when there are so many worthy competitors around and who are doing some
[00:17:57] Dr Ramesh
amazing stuff. Amazing activities around we were really humbled to
[00:18:02] Dr Ramesh
a one through that group. And when we look at all the activities that’s been happening and again, once again,
[00:18:08] Dr Ramesh
by predominantly volunteers in various parts of the region of Western Australia. Yes. Yeah, it was
[00:18:14] Dr Ramesh
a thrilling moment. But we are also humbled by the appreciation and
[00:18:21] Dr Ramesh
validation of what we’ve been doing in the last ten, eleven years.
[00:18:25] Geoff
Awesome. Well the, I can say the Woolworths community group of the year award is very hotly contested.
[00:18:33] Geoff
Always and many, many nominations to have won the award really shows that you are doing
[00:18:40] Geoff
a great deal in your community and a very well valid so well done to you.
[00:18:45] Dr Ramesh
Thank you.
[00:18:46] Geoff
What are your most vivid memories from the awards night? What did you take away from the night itself?
[00:18:53] Dr Ramesh
So I think I think the right from the Start obviously being nominated and then to
[00:18:57] Dr Ramesh
have gone on to be the witness was a touching moment. Well,
[00:19:02] Dr Ramesh
we really enjoyed the multicultural ambience and the integration of the different communities, different achievers and amazing calibre. Once again,
[00:19:16] Dr Ramesh
we have to keep going back to the belonging. But once again, it was
[00:19:20] Dr Ramesh
a really selling moment for everyone to feel have
[00:19:24] Dr Ramesh
a sense of belonging and even during the awards ceremony. And after the awards
[00:19:28] Dr Ramesh
ceremony, we met so many friends. And we mean people,
[00:19:32] Dr Ramesh
we met people who’ve been doing some awesome events and charitable activities. Yes.
[00:19:38] Dr Ramesh
It was the memory loss. Meeting those in
[00:19:42] Dr Ramesh
a way innovative and incredible individuals and groups that are doing some so much
[00:19:48] Dr Ramesh
charitable activities around Australia and Western Australia. It is just a very salient,
[00:19:54] Dr Ramesh
really Australian moments for us for us actually.
[00:19:57] Geoff
Yeah. It’s really Inspirational,
[00:19:59] Dr Ramesh
isn’t it? To hear so many wonderful stories. Inspirational is probably a good word. Yes, that’s right. Yeah.
[00:20:05] Geoff
Well, the awards nominations are currently open in
[00:20:09] Geoff
a number of the States still for the twenty twenty three awards. So if anybody
[00:20:13] Geoff
would like to nominate someone head to awards Australia dot com,
[00:20:17] Geoff
forward slash community achievement awards. So please get to that website because
[00:20:23] Geoff
by nominating someone you can actually really impact person,
[00:20:27] Geoff
your nominating who will make such a difference to them.
[00:20:30] Geoff
And it’s
[00:20:31] Geoff
a real privilege to be nominated as Ramesh has just said
[00:20:37] Geoff
On a personal note Ramesh what, what drives you as an individual? You’re a doctor. What is your driving passion?
[00:20:49] Dr Ramesh
Well I think my, my driving passion really is I just didn’t want to have a, just
[00:20:54] Dr Ramesh
a normal day being a doctor being this, doing everything normal. So we wanted to be everything unique and slightly,
[00:21:05] Dr Ramesh
almost like diverse in what I’m able to do and contribute to the community and to
[00:21:11] Dr Ramesh
my own pleasures as well. So I always think I wanted to be creative,
[00:21:16] Dr Ramesh
collaborative and compassionate to what I’m doing. Not just in the job,
[00:21:21] Dr Ramesh
but I would say the job itself. So I,
[00:21:24] Dr Ramesh
I think that probably drives me being passionate about whatever I wanted
[00:21:30] Dr Ramesh
a set of set out to do. And There’ll be ups and downs in what we’re trying to
[00:21:36] Dr Ramesh
have and what your passion and passion is,
[00:21:39] Dr Ramesh
but being able to be resilient and to have the mental and the physical strength to
[00:21:46] Dr Ramesh
achieve or make an attempt in achieving what you wish. My mission was.
[00:21:53] Dr Ramesh
So, and I’ve been fortunate that I have
[00:21:55] Dr Ramesh
a good network of Family friends and the community support throughout my life. And
[00:22:02] Dr Ramesh
obviously my resilience and the strength comes from probably more from my mother
[00:22:08] Dr Ramesh
and so and also being able to do things with humility, humbleness,
[00:22:14] Dr Ramesh
and being able to smile through the adversity. So I think being able to smile
[00:22:20] Dr Ramesh
through the adversities is probably my strongest strength or whatever. And
[00:22:26] Dr Ramesh
everything else comes through the being collaborative and respectful to the Human
[00:22:31] Dr Ramesh
beings. It doesn’t matter what last social class they had and being appreciative
[00:22:37] Dr Ramesh
and respectful to everyone else. That’s probably I would say is my strength really?
[00:22:43] Geoff
It’s a great attitude and a wonderful message for all of our listeners. Absolute take on board. Yeah.
[00:22:51] Geoff
Now I’m presuming that you’re a GP. Is that correct?
[00:22:57] Dr Ramesh
Uh no, I’m a specialist geriatrician and physician. Okay. I deal with adults as well as older
[00:23:04] Dr Ramesh
adults and my special interests are Parkinson’s disease movement disorders and stroke and alzheimer’s disease. So I deal with
[00:23:16] Dr Ramesh
a few thousand patients every year with various age groups right from age group of thirty nine,
[00:23:22] Dr Ramesh
right up to one hundred and two. So I deal with the complex alzheimer’s Parkinson’s
[00:23:28] Dr Ramesh
disease patients as well as in the stroke and other aspects of rehabilitation as
[00:23:32] Dr Ramesh
well. So I’ve been once again a part of almost like
[00:23:38] Dr Ramesh
a neurological Sabine subspecialty interest, but I deal with all the complex, older adult problems. That’s my,
[00:23:46] Dr Ramesh
that’s my specialty of interest.
[00:23:49] Geoff
So if anybody’s in the Southwest come and see Dr.
[00:23:52] Geoff
amesh who will look after you? Well, and are you in Banbury? Do you consult in Banbury?
[00:23:59] Dr Ramesh
Yeah, I’m based in Banbury and I in the South. I do clinics in busselton and I also do
[00:24:06] Dr Ramesh
work for the public hospital system as well as
[00:24:09] Dr Ramesh
a private system. And I also do some clinics at the Hollywood hospital once
[00:24:13] Dr Ramesh
a morning looking mainly at complex Parkinson’s disease patients,
[00:24:18] Dr Ramesh
along with their neurology colleagues in Perth as well. Yeah. Oh, well,
[00:24:25] Geoff
congratulations on all that you do personally and also of course that of the South,
[00:24:30] Geoff
West Indian group. For all the good work,
[00:24:33] Geoff
all the connections and the difference that you make in so many people’s lives. It’s certainly been
[00:24:41] Geoff
a privilege to talk to you today.
[00:24:44] Geoff
Where can our listeners connect with Southwest
[00:24:47] Geoff
Indian group and learn more about what you do or how they get involved?
[00:24:52] Dr Ramesh
We use various social media portals, but generally I recommend most of the community groups and listeners,
[00:25:01] Dr Ramesh
if they want to do is to follow us on swing bunbury Facebook page that has about
[00:25:07] Dr Ramesh
nine hundred followers and it’s rising by the day or by emailing us through swing
[00:25:13] Dr Ramesh
bunbury@gmail.com, those are the two portals,
[00:25:18] Dr Ramesh
but the Facebook portal is probably the most followed one and keeps everyone up to
[00:25:22] Dr Ramesh
date with all our events, all the charitable events,
[00:25:26] Dr Ramesh
as well as the iconic events that we run as well. So SWIG bunbury, Facebook page would be the best
[00:25:33] Geoff
sounds like if you’re in the South West,
[00:25:34] Geoff
you don’t want to miss out on the Facebook page like it and find out what’s going
[00:25:39] Geoff
on and when it’s going on Ramesh, it’s been such a pleasure to talk with you on the podcast today,
[00:25:47] Geoff
is there anything that you would like to add that maybe we haven’t covered or you would like to tell
[00:25:54] Dr Ramesh
people? Yeah, thank you Geoff. It’s been a pleasure as well,
[00:25:58] Dr Ramesh
but going back to some of the era the event and the awards. I do encourage the
[00:26:04] Dr Ramesh
listeners to nominate those unsung heroes in the local area,
[00:26:09] Dr Ramesh
who’ve been doing some awesome charitable activities. Not everybody is going to be a winner, but at least just
[00:26:15] Dr Ramesh
a validation and recognition of the these unsung heroes. It’s a big, big,
[00:26:22] Dr Ramesh
big recognition of the activities. And I would love to,
[00:26:25] Dr Ramesh
I’d like to thank Woolworths for continued for the continued support to these
[00:26:30] Dr Ramesh
awards events and recognising that community groups as most of the community groups
[00:26:35] Dr Ramesh
like us, are run by volunteers with just
[00:26:38] Dr Ramesh
a simple passion and mission of being charitable to the communities that’s there from the awards perspective. From my perspective,
[00:26:47] Dr Ramesh
I think I’m thankful for the Australian community to encourage us and
[00:26:54] Dr Ramesh
give us a sense of belonging and making us feel
[00:26:57] Dr Ramesh
a part of the wider population. I think I’m thankful for that and thank you also
[00:27:02] Dr Ramesh
for your time for doing this awesome interview.
[00:27:07] Geoff
Well, it’s absolutely our pleasure and our honour. As I mentioned, Dr. Ramesh, it’s such
[00:27:15] Geoff
a pleasure to talk with you today. I hope our listeners have really enjoyed hearing
[00:27:22] Geoff
about the Southwest Indian group and all that you do. And maybe if you’re inspired
[00:27:28] Geoff
around the country to do something similar, please reach out to Dr.
[00:27:33] Geoff
Ramesh to find out more because social inclusion is Critically and vitally
[00:27:39] Geoff
important in our communities. As we grow more multicultural every year. We need to
[00:27:45] Geoff
be inclusive and be caring. And kind so thank you so much for your
[00:27:51] Geoff
words today and everybody and till next week please be kind and remember that together we make a difference.
[00:28:00] Dr Ramesh
Thank you Geoff.
[00:28:05] Christine
The Inspirational Australian’s podcast is brought to you by awards Australia; we recognise, celebrate and share the stories of inspirational Australians through our awards Programs across the country. To find out more, to nominate an inspirational Australian in your life, or to partner with our awards, visit awards Australia dotcom. If you enjoyed today’s story, we’d love it if you could subscribe, rate and review to make sure you don’t miss an episode and to help our guests reach more people with their inspirational stories.
