Created by the hospital board of directors in 1991 in memory of former long-serving chief executive, the late Allan Matthews, the scholarship allows recipients to travel overseas to be exposed to international best-practice models, trends, programs and other initiatives.

Funded by the AL Lane Foundation, the award is "the most prestigious honour a South West Healthcare (SWH) employee can receive", chief executive Craig Fraser said.

Ms Lukeis will attend the International Infection Prevention and Control Conference in London next November to learn of new advances and research results in the fields of health and medical engineering in infection prevention and control.

She'll also visit several London hospitals with advanced infection prevention infrastructure focused on ventilation, logistics and systems for patient-centred care related to both admitted and homebased care.

Ms Lukeis was born in Camperdown where her parents Mary and Barry Brown still reside. She attended Camperdown's Catholic Regional College, now known as Mercy Regional College.

SWH's 167^th annual general meeting was held on Thursday November 25.

It also recognised three impressive volunteers.

Camperdown's Judy Donnelly received recognition for an outstanding contribution to the health service over a prolonged period of time.

Ms Donnelly was awarded life governorship for her 41 years with the Lolly Trolley Auxiliary, including six years as vice president, 16 years as secretary and seven years as treasurer.

Throughout this time Judy has provided continual lolly-trolley service to Merindah Lodge, the Camperdown Hospital, and Sunnyside Aged Care.

Certificates of Appreciation were awarded to Camperdown's Marion Boyd for 30 years voluntary service with the Lolly Trolley Auxiliary, and to Warrnambool's Neville Hogan for nine years voluntary assistance in helping maintain the supply department's vehicle fleet.

There were 332 registered volunteers and 1819 across all SWH campuses in the last 12 months.

"Our wonderful team of registered volunteers have supported us through a second year of disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic," Mr Fraser said.

"These 332 people have adjusted to numerous swiftly-enforced changes as we continue to implement precautions to help keep them safe, and help stop the spread of COVID-19.

"During 2020-21, these precautions include having temporarily deferred the volunteering activities of all but 56 volunteers at our Warrnambool Base Hospital and our five-strong telehealth volunteer team at Macarthur Community Health."

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