Health Promotion
DjHS has an extremely active Health Promotion Program working in the Melton and Moorabool Shires. The overall goal of the Health Promotion Program is ‘to increase the capacity of Djerriwarrh Health Services to provide health promotion initiatives within the organisation and to the communities of Melton and Bacchus Marsh’. Areas of priority in the last twelve months included health promotion program development, mental health and social well-being, food security and physical activity. Objectives were set and much progress made towards achieving them; however, at the end of the year it was found that resources available did not match the enthusiasm of the health promotion team!
Ten key members of the Primary Care Division are responsible for health promotion. One of the aims for the year was for all relevant staff to receive training in health promotion – and this was achieved. However, it is still evident that there is a need for further skills and knowledge development amongst staff that have responsibility for health promotion, and we will always consider this a priority. Networking with other agencies and organisations plays an important role in ensuring health promotion programs are effective throughout the region. A number of organisations were invaluable in helping us deliver the planned programs – these included ISIS Community Health, Western Region Health, and Melton and Moorabool local government.
Although there were four main targeted programs for the year, mention of two of these programs is made in more detail below.
Mental Health and Social Well-being
Youth mental health and social well-being were identified as a major priority, with the aim of improving the level of self-esteem in young people at risk as well as to reduce their involvement in ‘risk taking’ behaviour. This was a joint venture between the youth services at Melton and Moorabool Shires, Backdoor Youth Health Service at DjHS, youth counselling staff at DjHS, local primary and secondary schools in Melton, school welfare and nursing staff, local youth networks and other health agencies.
One of the main initiatives was the Melton Young Pregnant and Parenting (MYPP) group. This targeted young people between the ages 13 – 25 years. An average of eight women attend the weekly MYPP session. Activities involved were weekly support group sessions, the establishment of young parents playgroup and community excursions aimed at ‘re-connecting’ these young people into the community.
The other initiative, True Colours, was conducted over an 8-week period in out-of-school hours and also in Kurunjang Secondary College. The program focused on increasing personal development skills and self esteem amongst young women. It covered areas such as self-esteem, body image, lifestyle choices and sexual health issues. All participants stated that their overall self-esteem and assertiveness had improved as a result of being involved in the program.
Food Security
- The ‘Veg Out Van’ used in our Health Promotion Program
Another challenging health promotion project undertaken during the year involved food security, targeting different groups of people including school children and the disadvantaged local communities. The aim of the project was to increase people’s access to culturally appropriate and nutritious food. In particular, activities to promote increased access to, and consumption of, fruit and vegetables were developed. While adequate nutrition is essential for health, access to healthy food is often taken for granted. At any one time in a person’s life they may experience not being able to afford or access a culturally appropriate and safe food supply.
This project was a combined effort from many different community groups including the Senior Citizens Group, the residents of Rockbank and Diggers Rest, local primary schools, childcare centres, and emergency food relief services,
DjHS was responsible for delivering the educational component of the program, which included cooking sessions; workplace training about food security issues and providing professional nutritional advice for the development of the fruit and vegetable ‘packs’ together with information materials.
An interesting innovation was the establishment of a mobile fruit and vegetable delivery service known as the ‘Veg Out Van’. The Veg Out Van visits the two communities of Rockbank and Diggers Rest. The fruit and vegetable supply to these communities has increased as a result of the van operating on a weekly basis. One of the more significant achievements has been the operation of the Veg Out Van in the Rockbank caravan park, which has improved the ability of this transient and hard to reach population to purchase healthy food.
The school fruit and water initiative known as Fresh Kids is another element of the food security project managed by the DjHS health promotion team. Fresh Kids program was implemented in one primary school with three other schools opting for a modified version of the program. The school based programs will continue to be developed to meet the needs of each individual school.
In conclusion, it can be seen that the Health Promotion team at DjHS has achieved a great deal during the past 12 months but there are still many challenges ahead in the years to come!