WDHS mentioned at world conference
4 June 2007
A disability awareness training program developed by Western District Health Service and other health agencies will be presented at an international conference in Canada this month.
The Acutely Aware project is a disability awareness training program for hospitals developed by RuralAccess, the Wimmera Health Care Group and Western District Health Service.
RuralAccess Wimmera will present the Acutely Aware project at the 19th International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) World Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from June 10-15, 2007.
Staff from both hospitals took part in the training program and provided feedback which shaped the program. Facilitators each had disabilities, and worked effectively with participants to help develop a training program that would enhance understanding of management of those with a disability in an acute hospital setting.
Following feedback from participants and facilitators the Acutely Aware program is planned to be used across the health care industry.
The Wimmera project was a successful presentation applicant for the IUHPE’s World Congress on Health Promotion and Education entitled Health Promotion Comes of Age: Research, Policy & Practice for the 21st Century.
“Ms. Dorothy McLaren, RuralAccess Wimmera Coordinator will present a paper on the Acutely Aware project that will examine the process of taking a social model of disability into the acute health setting,” Ms Angela Murphy, General Manager, Community and Enterprise Services, Horsham Rural City Council said.
The project was piloted in January and February this year, and an evaluation on the pilot is currently being developed.
“This local initiative is a follow-on project from the Wimmera Advocacy Connections project, auspiced by HRCC and managed by RuralAccess Wimmera, and from the ongoing association of RuralAccess with Monash medical students on rural placement in the Wimmera,” Ms McLaren said.
“Acutely Aware is about people with a disability working with acute health staff to ensure inclusion and empowerment for people with a disability. The Acutely Aware trainers will talk to acute health staff about some of the issues people with disabilities experience in hospital settings.”
Rural Access has been established as a partnership between the Department of Human Services, Disability Services Branch, local government authorities and community health services. There are now twenty-five full-time Rural Access workers based in local government and community health services throughout rural Victoria.
These workers have a responsibility to plan and develop initiatives across the full range of community infrastructure including education and training, transport, health, accommodation and housing, physical access planning, communication and information, sport, recreation and the arts.
The mission of The International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) is to promote global health and to contribute to the achievement of equity in health between and within countries of the world.
ABOVE: One of the project participants, WDHS bed manager Lorraine Northcott, reads the Acutely Aware report with Dorothy McLaren, RuralAccess Wimmera Coordinator.