Omeo District Health Annual Report 2005/06

Physiotherapy
Omeo District Health continued its
collaborative arrangement with Orbost
Regional Health to share the services of a full
time physiotherapist. Bairnsdale Regional
Health has assisted with the role in providing
necessary professional supervision and
support.
The arrangement has allowed for consistency
in the provision of clinical physiotherapy
services. A regular outreach service was
provided in Swifts Creek.
Additional activities included establishment
of a gentle exercise program at Benambra, a
continue focus on falls prevention and
development of a manual handling education
program for ODH staff and community
groups.
Diabetes Education
This service continues to be provided one day
per fortnight with outreach services and
home visit services to all towns in the district.
The service provides education, screening and
monitoring for people with Type 1 and 2
diabetes and also has a strong health
prevention focus to highlight awareness of
pre-diabetes risk factors and positive health
lifestyle choices needed to help reduce the
incidence of the disease. The diabetes
educator has worked closely with the visiting
dietician, the local General Practitioner, the
health promotion worker and community
nurses.
Chronic disease management is a high
priority of the East Gippsland Primary Care
Partnership and the Omeo district diabetes
educator has maintained strong links with
this regional organisation to ensure that local
services are consistent with current disease
management theory.
Speech Therapy
After a considerable gap in service due to a
lack of staff available on a contract basis
through Bairnsdale Regional Health Service,
ODH collaborated together with Gippsland
Lakes Community Health and the cluster of
schools in the Omeo and Lakes Entrance
districts to create a full time shared speech
therapy position. This position was filled
from January 2006, and the service was well
used, particularly by the early childhood
population. The service was offered as a
regular outreach service to the three schools
and two kindergartens in the district.
Dietetics
Dietetics services are provided on a contract
basis through Bairnsdale Regional Health
Service, one to two days per month.
The service provides advice on general
nutrition and nutritional issues related to
illness and specific conditions. In addition,
the Dietician has provided health promotion
activities such as supermarket ‘nutrition’
tours, and educational presentations to
schools, ODH staff and community groups.
The program has seen a steady increase in
client numbers as the community becomes
more aware of the benefits of consulting a
Dietician.
Youth Services
Youth services continue to be provided two
days per week. The service looks to improve
the environment for young people in the area
by focusing on training in work readiness,
improving access to social activities locally
and regionally, increasing community
connectedness and peer support, and working
together with other organisations such as the
Secondary College to target current issues
such as alcohol and substance abuse,
domestic violence, depression and eating
disorders.
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