Portland District Health Annual Report 2007 - South West Alliance of ...

Women’s Health
The role of the Women’s Health Resource Worker is to work with
women and the community to improve the health of women. Over
the past 12 months, emphasis has been placed on working with the
local indigenous communities through Winda Mara Corporation and
Dhauwurd-Wurrung Elderly Citizens centre. Health education has
been a major focus for the role in 2006/2007.
HEALTH PROMOTION UNIT
The emphasis of health promotion is to provide sustainable models,
interventions and resources to promote health and wellbeing
throughout the Glenelg Shire.
During the year, the unit completed the 2006/2009 Health Promotion
Management Plan for Portland in conjunction with DHS, the
Glenelg Shire Council, local organisations, key stakeholders and the
community.
Three main priority health areas were identified:
• chronic illness
• mental health and wellbeing
• physical activity and nutrition
The focus for this plan was identified as schools, workplaces and the
community with emphasis placed on the development and delivery
sustainable models.
Other programs have included:-
Smiles4Miles - a new program “Smiles4Miles” children’s health
promotion initiative was established in conjunction with Dental Health
Victoria. This has involved six kindergartens.
Disability Health Promotion Framework
This pilot program has involved working with the disability agencies
to develop and implement a health promotion plan and up skilling
staff around health promotion. Being a first for health promotion and
disability, the pilot program was presented at the ‘Participate in Health
Conference’ in February this year.
Mental Health First Aid Training Program
With the increasing need for mental health promotion, the Southern
Grampians and Glenelg Primary Care Partnership engaged Portland
District Health and Aspire to co-facilitate the Mental Health First Aid
course across the two shires.
BreastScreen Community Education
The focus has been on providing community support and promotion
around increasing awareness of, access to, and uptake of free breast
screening for women aged 50-69.
Portland Healthy Schools Network
The Portland Healthy Schools Network aims to enable and empower
the Portland and district school community to promote healthy eating
and physical activity in primary school aged children.
The current focus of the Network is the co-ordination and promotion
of the Kids - ‘Go for your Life’ program in local primary schools.
‘The Well’
‘The Well’ is a quarterly newsletter aimed at keeping teachers,
parents and carers up to date about two children’s health projects -
Kids - ‘Go for your Life’ and Smiles4Miles. “The Well” has received
sponsorship from Portland Aluminium and Safeway, allowing
distribution throughout the Portland District.
Towards a Healthy Heart
This program centres on the longer term risk of cardiovascular
disease in men. The results have shown that the program not only
reduces cholesterol, blood pressure, weight and waist measurements
but also promotes healthy eating and physical activity uptake.
In May of this year, Portland District Health celebrated success by
taking out the prestigious ‘Primary Healthcare Network Award for
Innovation and Excellence in Health Promotion’ for the ‘Towards a
Healthy Heart’ program.
Workplace Wellbeing Program
The Workplace Wellbeing Program is a new health promotion
initiative that aims to combine mental health initiatives across
Portland District Health under one succinct program. The Workplace
Wellbeing Program is currently in its early developmental stage, with
piloting to occur early in 2008.
The unit has identified several key objectives including healthy
heart model for cardiovascular disease risk reduction in men aged
30 to 60; the development of a community consultation strategy,
completion of an evaluation plan for the 2006/2009 Health Promotion
Management Plan and the continued development of a quality
improvement program for health promotion and health programs.
PORTLAND DISTRICT HEALTH • ANNUAL REPORT 06/07 31