For Pamela Cohen, it wasn’t enough that the cardiac patients in the hospital where she worked received the best care.  Pamela wanted that level of care to be available to every cardiac patient, throughout Australia and overseas.  She received good advice on what she needed to do to influence this field of medical practice, and she followed it.

In fact, good advice from influential women is what led Pamela to a career in social work in the first place.  And that story connects her to the most tumultuous events in our political history.

PROFILE:

St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney Cardiac Rehabilitation program, featuring a presentation from Pamela  on the psycho-social aspects of rehabilitation:

https://www.svhhearthealth.com.au/rehabilitation/overview-rehabilitation

(Pamela’s is the 8th of the presentations)

Mentioned in this episode
Professor Tony Vinson:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Vinson

Margaret Whitlam AO:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Whitlam

General introductions to the dismissal of the Whitlam Government can be found at the Australian National Museum and the National Film and Sound Archive:
https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/whitlam-dismissal https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/dismissal

Detailed analysis of the events leading up to the Dismissal are contained in The Eleventh  podcast:
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/the-eleventh/ start at episode 4

Jenny Hocking, The Dismissal Dossier: Everything You Were Never Meant to Know About November 1975, Melbourne University Press, 2017
https://www.mup.com.au/books/the-dismissal-dossier-electronic-book-text  

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners

The Australian Association of Social Workers respectfully acknowledges the past and present Traditional Owners and ongoing Custodians of the land on which this podcast is being recorded. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, their ancestors and their families, and to the Elders of other communities who may be listening