Vale Wendy Salmon

Member and past chair Chris Drummond wrote the following tribute to APLI mentor Wendy Salmon, who died suddenly on April 15th, 2023. 

It is with immense sadness that as an APLI Mentor and close personal friend, I write of the sudden death of Wendy Salmon.

Wendy’s career as a palliative care nurse started from humble beginnings in Wallaroo, on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. She had only just graduated as an RN when she was asked to work as the Peninsula palliative care nurse. She had worked as a community EN but had no specific palliative care experience. She challenged herself professionally and personally, making it her focus to upskill, until she became the Regional Coordinator. Wendy eventually, received the SA Premier’s Award for Nursing. She was loved and respected by everyone she worked with and those she served. I invited her to join APLI and she did so with gusto, assisting with State-wide and local fundraising and accompanying me on a visit to Tripura, as part of Project Hamrahi. She was loved and respected in Tripura for her professionalism, sense of fun, kindness, and her love and respect for everyone, no matter their social standing. She was very open and non-judgemental, often joking with other nurses about things in her life that they found incredible, such as having divorced, providing them with insights into ways of living in freedom.  

As her confidence grew, Wendy challenged herself further by moving to Darwin and working with the Palliative Care Team, whom she ensured were well-educated about APLI!  During this time, she continued to assist with fundraising in Adelaide and we were fortunate to return to Tripura again. 

Wendy moved to Melbourne to work in palliative care, caring for the homeless in the city centre. She eventually moved to Adelaide and commuted between the Northern Adelaide Palliative Care Service and the Yorke Peninsula, to be close to her family and new grand-daughter. When the commuting became problematic, she moved back to her home town of Wallaroo, where she has mentored many others.

Wendy is the ultimate example of an APLI mentor; challenging herself to promote good palliative care, no matter the circumstances, with a genuine love for people. 

I loved her like a sister and she is sorely missed by many of us here in Adelaide and on Yorke Peninsula. 

Wendy taught me a lot about love and I am humbled to have been an APLI Mentor with her.