Trudi Szallasi Memorial Scholarship

Our friend and colleague, Trudi Szallasi, was an online tutor with Health e-Learning from August 2005 until her untimely death from breast cancer in June 2008. Trudi was totally committed to helping mothers and babies to have a successful and happy breastfeeding relationship. She was a volunteer breastfeeding counselor with the Australian Breastfeeding Association, served as a Director on the National Board, and held the role of State president for 2 years. After qualifying as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) Trudi began a private practice, and ultimately became the President of the local branch of the Australian Lactation Consultant’s Association. In the year Trudi qualified as an IBCLC she gained the highest marks in the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners exam and was subsequently invited onto the IBLCE examination committee for the review of the following year’s exam.

She left behind three beautiful young children, a devoted husband and loving parents, brothers and their families, and countless friends.

Health e-Learning, by the awarding of this scholarship, is seeking to honour the memory of a truly remarkable and wonderful woman who made a great contribution to the mothers and babies in her care, the students of lactation who she taught, and the lactation world.

What the scholarship covers

Full fees for:

• IH03: Child Development
• AP03: Critical Appraisal of Research
• BE01 - BE10: BreastEd Program (120 hr program)
• ET01: Ethics for Lactation Consultants
• Lactation Exam Practice in the year sitting the IBLCE examination
• Access to online mentoring with our experienced Lactation Consultant course facilitators

Selection Criteria

The applicant:

• must have an intention to sit the IBLCE examination within the two years following the year the scholarship is awarded.
• must meet all IBLCE stated prerequisites to sit the IBLCE examination within the two years following the year the scholarship was awarded. (Important: Please refer to the IBLCE website to view the exam pre-requisites. The scholarship does NOT cover the college-level courses that must be completed.)
• must be prepared to pay the IBLCE examination fee when it becomes due.
• will provide written agreement to IBLCE to release your examination results to Health e-Learning.
• must have a computer that is connected to the internet and you have sufficient computer skills to participate in online learning.
• must be sufficiently fluent in the English language to study these programs, read research papers and textbooks.

The scholarship is open internationally. The scholarship will be awarded to the best-qualified applicant, with preference given to one who has or has had mother-to-mother breastfeeding counseling experience with a recognized volunteer peer counseling service (for example La Leche League, Australian Breastfeeding Association, National Childbirth Trust, etc)

Application

Applications open early March and close at the end of May each year. The successful applicant will be notified in the second week of June.

Agreement

It is expected that the successful applicant will agree to:

• Purchase, or have access to, one or more of the latest edition of the major comprehensive lactation texts.
• Pay the IBLCE examination fee when it becomes due.
• Make a firm commitment to spend at least 15 hours per BreastEd course and at least 5 hours for the Ethics course to study the course content and complete the activities and other courses prior to the Deadline for Exam Application in the year you sit.
• Complete the practice exams in Lactation Exam Practice.
• Participate in the online discussion forums that accompany each of the online courses and the Lactation Exam Practice.
• Establish and maintain regular contact by email with your course facilitators.
• Apply the knowledge learned as you work with mothers/parents and babies, discussing your clinical experiences with your clinical mentor and your course facilitators.