From the CEO - Your Community Health

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From the CEO - Your Community Health
Your newsletter from Your Community Health AUTUMN 2022

From the CEO
                                        help clients manage their illness and    AUTUMN 2022
                                        get well soon.
                                        Since launching our 2022-2026
                                                                                 In this issue
                                        Strategic Plan late last year, we have
                                        made great progress. I am excited         1. Meet Keira
                                        to share an update with you (pg
                                        4-5) on how we are growing and            2. General Practice
                                        improving our services to better care        Respiratory Clinic
                                        for our clients and community.               launches
                                        You will also read about our:             3. Our progress against
                                        •   Win at the Darebin Community             the Strategic Plan
                                            Awards
                                                                                  4. Our COVID-19
                                        •   COVID Response efforts                   Response
                                        •   New Reconciliation Action Plan        5. Committing to
                                            and more.
                                                                                     Reconciliation
Welcome to the Autumn 2022              The last six months have seen us
edition of Your News.                   grow and change significantly since       6. Your comments, our
This is a bumper edition, full of       our last update to you and I hope            responses
interesting updates from across the     you enjoy reading about it in this
organisation. Firstly, you will meet    edition.
Keira Leike, Manager for the Trans      Best regards,
and Gender Diverse in Community
Health program (pg 2). Joining us
earlier this year, Keira is off to an
amazing start. I hope you enjoy
reading about the inspiring work she
and her team are doing.                 Kent Burgess,
You will also hear about our new        Chief Executive Officer
General Practice Respiratory Clinics                                             We acknowledge that the
at our East Reservoir and Northcote                                              Wurundjeri People of the Kulin
locations (pg 3). Providing medical                                              Nation are the traditional owners
care and support to people with                                                  and custodians of the land. We
breathing and lung issues, these                                                 pay our respects to Aboriginal
Clinics offer immediate support to                                               Elders past and present.

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From the CEO - Your Community Health
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Meet Keira                      In five words, tells us why you are
                                passionate about your work.
                                I love humans + complex puzzles.
                                                                      We are developing a remote-clinic
                                                                      model for regional clients that will
                                                                      better utilise appointment spots,
                                                                      while addressing a multitude of
                                What attracted you to the             needs such as regional capacity,
                                community health sector?              organisational partnerships
                                In the age of disruption, I want to   (with Austin Health and Ballarat
                                work in a field where I can offer     Community Health) and financial
                                an island of sanity, as Margaret      sustainability.
                                Wheatley would call it.               Also looking at a new Peer
                                What has been happening in your       Navigator Workforce model with
                                area lately?                          sequential training opportunities (in
                                                                      Mental Health, Community Health,
                                We have been collectively picking     and Medical Administration) that
                                up pieces, dusting them off,          will potentially include partnerships
                                and giving them TLC. We have          with community organisations,
                                been concentrating on clarifying      TAFEs, surgeons, and disability
                                our processes, expectations,          employment services.
                                communication, and partnerships.
                                We recommenced seeing clients in      If you could go anywhere in the
                                February 2022 and we are delighted    world right now, where would you
                                about it.                             go?

                                What is next for your team?           Right now – I am exactly where I
                                                                      would like to be, but I would love to
Keira Leike is Program          Our program funding is cyclical,      see the red centre via train, snorkel
Manager for the Trans           and a new cycle is expected in July   with mantra rays in Coral Bay,
and Gender Diverse in           2022. We will recentre our goals,     return to Mona Foma and dozens of
Community Health Program.       look at where we can create further   other festivals with quirky line-ups,
                                simplification or sophistication.     meet mum in Argentina or Cuba,
Read on to learn more about                                           and would love to go to Morocco
                                We need more GPs for the TGD
Keira and her work at Your      Clinic, and we commenced              and Egypt for their fabulous jazz
Community Health.               collaborating with Primary Care to    festivals.
                                achieve this.

We won!
We recently had the honour      dedicated themselves to delivering
of accepting a ‘Special         exceptional care and support to
                                the community. This award was
Commendation for an             a wonderful recognition of their
Exceptional Organisation        talent, commitment and care
During Exceptional Times’       Our heartfelt thanks to Darebin
Award at the Darebin            City Council for recognising
Community Awards.               our contribution and giving us
                                something to celebrate!
Throughout the pandemic,
our staff and volunteers have
From the CEO - Your Community Health
AUTUMN 2022                                                                                                        3

                                                                             POWER MOVE

                                                                             The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister

Breathing issues? Visit
                                                                             for Energy, Environment and
                                                                             Climate Change and Sustainability
                                                                             Victoria visited our Northcore site
                                                                             earlier this year

our clinic.                                                                  Our Health Centres are
                                                                             getting more sustainable
Our new General Practice              specialised and qualified general
                                                                             with solar panels.
Respiratory Clinics offer free        practitioners and nurses.
respiratory assessment and            At your visit, you will receive:
treatment without going to            •   A comprehensive respiratory        The installation of solar
the hospital.                             assessment of including            panels at our Northcote
                                          COVID-19 testing if you display    Health Centre is generously
Located at our East Reservoir and         symptoms.                          funded through the
Northcote (coming soon) Health                                               Community Climate
Clinics, the General Practice         •   Immediate support to help you
                                          manage your illness.
                                                                             Change Energy Action
Respiratory Clinics provide medical                                          program to reduce the
care and support to people with       •   A referral back to your GP for     impacts of climate change.
breathing and lung issues such as:        ongoing care; if you do not have   We extend our thanks to
•   Asthma                                a GP, we will help you find one.   The Hon Lily D'Ambrosio,
                                      Our General Practice Respiratory       Minister for Energy,
•   Hayfever                                                                 Environment and Climate
                                      Clinics are open seven days per
•   Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary     week. You can book an appointment      Change and Sustainability
    Disease                           by calling us on (03) 8470 1111 or     Victoria for making this
                                      through this QR code:                  possible.
•   Emphysema
•   Pneumonia
                                                                             The solar panels will be
•   Flu                                                                      installed at our Northcote
•   Shortness of breath                                                      and East Reservoir Health
•   COVID-like symptoms.                                                     Centres over the next three
                                                                             months.
No Medicare card is required to
book a free consultation with our
From the CEO - Your Community Health
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From the CEO - Your Community Health
AUTUMN 2022   5
From the CEO - Your Community Health
6

Responding to the pandemic
                                                                                       DID YOU KNOW?
                                                                                       For more information on
                                                                                       our COVID-19 testing and
                                                                                       vaccination clinics, please visit:
                                                                                       yourch.org.au/our-services/
                                                                                       covid-19.

Our friendly testing team are ready to help at the Austin Repatriation Hosptial
at 300 Waterdale Road, Heidelberg Heights – corner of Waterdale Road and Bell
Street.

For the past two years,                            our High Risk Accommodation
COVID-19 has changed the                           Response team
way we live and work. Here is                 •    Supporting 265 clients through
                                                   our General Practice Respiratory
how we responded to it.                            Clinic.
Since the pandemic began, our                 Our COVID-19 testing site at the
team has worked hard to develop               Austin Repatriation Hospital and
and deliver new services and                  our vaccination clinics are still
supports to our community. We                 supporting the community today.
supported clients across Darebin
and Northern Melbourne by:                    We also continued to provide our
                                              existing services, often in new
•   Giving more than 69,000 PCR               ways, to keep our community
    tests                                     healthy. Where possible, we moved
•   Handing out over 71,000 Rapid             in-person visits to telehealth
    Antigen Tests                             appointments, offering greater
                                              flexibility of care for clients. Our
•   Hosting over 150 pop-up                   Social Support programs also
    vaccination clinics                       offered ‘door stop’ visits to keep in
•   Delivering over 3,900                     touch with clients, offer meaningful
    vaccination doses to                      connection and celebrate
    communities that experience               milestones like holidays and
    barriers to vaccination                   birthdays.
•   Caring for over 9,150 people              The pandemic has been a
    through our COVID Positive                challenging time for all, but has
    Pathways program                          also offered us the opportunity to
                                              grow and adapt to offer you better      Our testing and vaccination teams hard at
•   Supporting 600 clients through
                                              services and care.                      work supporting the community.
From the CEO - Your Community Health
AUTUMN 2022                                                                                                      7

Committing to Reconciliation

We are launching our first         Islander peoples, communities and         Our draft RAP will soon be shared
Reconciliation Action Plan         organisations.                            with our clients and community via
                                   Increasing our understanding of and       our website for consultation, before
(RAP) and deepening our                                                      being endorsed by Reconciliation
                                   respect for Aboriginal and Torres
efforts to support and             Strait Islander cultures, histories and   Australia and our Board.
work with the Aboriginal           knowledge.                                We are committed to delivering
and Torres Strait Islander         Improving employment                      great services and supports to the
Community.                         outcomes for Aboriginal and               Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
                                   Torres Strait Islander peoples            community. Launching this RAP is
Outlining the roadmap to our                                                 key to doing so in a meaningful and
Reconciliation Journey, our new    through recruitment and supplier
                                   opportunities.                            culturally sensitive way that centres
RAP will run for 12 months and                                               the voices of Aboriginal and Torres
focuses on:                        Establishing and maintaining an           Strait Islander peoples.
Building meaningful and mutually   effective and engaged RAP Working
beneficial relationships with      Group to drive progress and
Aboriginal and Torres Strait       outcomes.

Artwork at East Reservoir
                                         Aunty Wendy Berwick’s beautiful artworks have been
                                         restored and are back on display at our East Reservoir
                                         Health Centre.
                                         A tribute to Aboriginal             tribute to Aboriginal Elder
                                         community members                   Aunty Shirley Firebrace.
                                         who have supported                  When visiting our East
                                         Aboriginal families to              Reservoir health centre, please
                                         access health care at Your          take a moment to enjoy these
                                         Community Health, these             wonderful creations.
                                         artworks are also a special
From the CEO - Your Community Health
8

Your comments,                      on our main phone line. We know
                                    this has been challenging and we
                                                                            ‘Administration staff - absolutely
                                                                            wonderful. They are very polite,
our responses                       apologise for the difficulties this
                                    has caused. We have increased our
                                                                            caring, professional+ empathic
                                                                            when dealing with the public. I
                                    efforts to recruit call centre staff.   observed this while waiting for an
You can provide us feedback         Next, we will focus on reducing         appointment (dental).
in many ways - using the            our call waiting times and putting      The dental staff (dentist and
feedback form on our                strategies into place to ensure this    dental assistant) were absolutely
website, through our client         does not happen again.                  professional + caring. In my humble
satisfaction surveys, by                                                    opinion, it was my best experience
writing to us at feedback@          Great outcomes.                         in a dental surgery!
yourch.org.au or by leaving         Outstanding experiences.                Congratulations to all your
                                                                            staff and that will also include
feedback in our suggestion          We are committed to delivering          management.’
boxes.                              positive experiences and outcomes
                                    for our clients. This recent feedback
Due to staffing gaps in our call    from a new client following their
centre, we know you have recently   Dental appointment is a wonderful
experienced prolonged wait times    reminder of why we do what we do.

                                                                             DID YOU KNOW?
                                                                             Important updates
                                                                             and opportunities
                                                                               Charitable donations
                                                                               All donations of $2 or more to
                                                                               are tax deductable. Donate at
                                                                               www.yourch.org.au/donate.
                                                                               Our newsletter is also digital!
                                                                               As part of our commitment
                                                                               to reduce our environmental
                                                                               impact, you can now subscribe to
                                                                               a digital version of our newsletter
                                                                               by emailing us at info@yourch.
                                                                               org.au. If you have challenges
                                                                               accessing our digital newsletter,
                                                                               please email us at the above
                                                                               address and we will arrange to
                                                                               send you an alternative version
                                                                               by post.

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From the CEO - Your Community Health
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