FOR more than a decade Jan Savage has been a driving force behind life-saving community projects based out of Orange, leading to the volunteer being named as one of the top 100 Women of Influence in the Australian Financial Review and Westpac awards.
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After spearheading a 2002 campaign to raise $500,000 for a cardiac catheter or stenting laboratory to be built in the former Orange Base Hospital, she launched into a campaign to convince federal and state authorities Orange needed an accommodation lodge for cancer patients if there was any chance of Orange securing the only radiotherapy service west of Sydney.
“I do feel humbled, but this isn’t about me - it is about the community and creating better outcomes for people in need,” she said.
Mrs Savage says she hopes being named as a woman of influence will encourage other women to put themselves forward to fulfil key roles in the community.
“Above all you have to have resilience because some victories have to be hard fought,” she said.
Since she began on the Mid West Heart Fund community project in 2002, Mrs Savage has worked up to 50 hours a week from her home office with no remuneration.
“It was really tough at times - going into those smaller communities who were in drought to tell them of the grand plans we had to bring radiotherapy services and accommodation to the central west,” she said.
“But in all my visits to the towns and cities in the central and far west it never ceased to amaze me just how incredibly generous people could be.”
Orange mayor John Davis, who worked closely with Mrs Savage in the Cancer Care Western NSW project to build Western Care Lodge in Orange, said the city was fortunate to have a volunteer of Mrs Savage’s calibre.
“When we think about people having influence we often think about it as power over other people,” Cr Davis said.
“In Jan’s case it is about the amazing influence she has had in this community and communities further west of Orange.”
Mrs Savage encourages women to make the same journey she has, and become involved in their community.
“While I’ve been working on these projects there have been some challenging times, but overwhelmingly it has been an enriching experience,” she said.
“It has changed my life and I would encourage women to do the same as I have as you have skills and the resolve to get the job done.”
Mrs Savage says the motivation for her work on the Mid West Heart Fund and the Cancer Care Western projects was driven by a sense of inequity for people living past the Blue Mountains.
Mrs Savage also served on the Orange Health Council for several years.
Mrs Savage was named Orange’s Citizen of the Year in 2006 and has twice been named Orange Woman of the Year.
She joins Orange businesswoman and Racing Orange chair Ellie Brown as one of this year’s 100 Women of Influence.
janice.harris@fairfaxmedia.com.au
