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| Become a friend on Facebook for the latest IWC news and events. Find us at iwchealthandwellbeing |
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The IWC vision:
To be the optimal service of choice, transforming lives "where communities matter"
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The IWC has joined with the Bundaberg NewsMail to deliver a campaign around Ice use in our region.
We have created a survey to get a clear picture - from the community perspective - of the reach of this deadly drug in Bundaberg. It's confidential, and your information will go towards finding a solution to this devastating drug, and associated issues, in this region.
In the meantime, the next information session on Ice and other drugs will be held at 3.30pm on Wednesday 9 March at the IWC Health & Wellbeing Centre, 184 Barolin St, Bundaberg. All welcome.
The event is FREE and is part of a monthly series of information sessions about Ice and other drugs in our region, delivered by the IWC Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) team.
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| IWC now has more than 12,000 clients, and climbing. This is a testament to the unique holistic model of care and the commitment of the team delivering services and initiatives across our communities. We listen to our clients, and respond to their needs. If you have any comments or feedback, please use the Compliments and Complaints forms available in any of our IWC receptions. |
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Hair-razing time for IWC executives - for a great cause
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We're tackling the challenge of health and wellbeing every day, and now IWC CEO Ara Harathunian, our GM Wayne Mulvany and Corporate Coordinations Manager Leanne Connors are all raising funds to help beat blood cancer.
"Team IWC' has joined up with Auswide Bank CEO Martin Barrett, Bundaberg Deputy Mayor David Batt and Member for Bundaberg Leanne Donaldson to be part of a local event being held by Riquita's Hair Studio in Bundaberg.
Together, they will be trying to raise many thousands of dollars for the Foundation, which seeks a cure to blood cancer and supports the victims of leukaemia and their families.
Or to find out more call Riquita Ashby, of Riquita's Hair Studio, on 4153 4189.
Riquita's Hair Studio has officially registered as a Public Shave Venue with the
 Leukaemia Foundation.
But wait, there's more!
"Anyone can come down to Riquita's Hair Studio at 239 Bourbong St on March 12 and, for a $2 donation, can be part of our Funky Hair Day event," said Riquita.
Pictured are, from top left, Martin Barrett, David Batt, Ara Harathunian, Riquita Ashby,
Sue-Ellen Pitt of the Leukaemia Foundation. From left bottom row are Matt Ashby and Leanne Connors.
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Dietitian joins our health professionals
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 IWC now has a Dietitian as part of its whole-of-person health and wellbeing services.
Hannah Parks will work in partnership with our General Practitioners and Allied Health professionals to provide the best possible patient outcomes.
Here are a few tips from Hannah around healthy lunchbox eating.
Your best choices are:
- Sandwiches, wraps or pita bread with cheese, lean meat, and salad. You can even try avocado as a spread!
- Cheese slices, crackers with spread, reduced fat yoghurt.
- Washed and cut up raw vegetables or fresh fruits.
- Frozen water bottle or tetra pack/popper of milk, particularly in hot weather.
Avoid these items:
- Processed meats such as salami, ham, pressed chicken and Strasbourg.
- Chips, sweet biscuits, and muesli bars and breakfast bars.
- Fruit bars and fruit straps.
- Cordials, juices and soft drinks.
And particularly in this hot weather, Hannah says: "Include a frozen water bottle in an insulated lunch box to keep lunchboxes cold. This is to make sure cold food is safe to eat, prevent food spoilage and to stop children getting sick."
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Did you know that our phone number - 1300 492 492 - also is 1300 IWC IWC? It's an easy way for our clients to remember it!
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High Tea to mark International Women's Day
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The IWC will be hosting an International Women's Day 2016 High Tea on Tuesday 8 March.
The event will be held at the IWC's Home Care services premises at 15 McLean St, Bundaberg.
Starting at 10am and running until 1.30pm, it will include speakers from the IWC's Spiritual Council, a High Tea, Trivia and a Lucky Door Prize of a beautiful pot plant.
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Plus we'll be raffling a $200 Beauty Basket, which will include pampering treats and a voucher for a professional portrait session from Bundaberg's Solana Photography.
A gold coin donation is requested when you arrive, and all are welcome. Please RSVP to 1300 492 492 (Corporate Reception) by 2 March.
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Julie has fairydust at her fingertips
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When IWC Practice Nurse Julie Kilsby is not working at the Health & Wellbeing Centre in Bundaberg, she delivers fairy dust stories that brighten children's lives.
Julie, pictured, now has 15 published children's books to her name, plus two in the hands of illustrators and one in the making.
"They just fell out of my head," she says of the fictional Wobbies, who live under a woodheap and are as pretty as can be. Each Wobby is a powder blue, furry creature smaller than a speck of fairy dust.
As well as coming to life in a series of Julie's books, they feature in two apps.
And, most recently, they have hit the silver screen - albeit for around 30 seconds - in a feature-length movie, Chasing Tornadoes, created by Garcia Productions.
"It's exciting," she says. "I never could have dreamed that I would be part of something like this."
Bundaberg Regional Library is hosting a Julie Kilsby Meet the Author session on 18 March. All are welcome.
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Play & Learn sessions support early development
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Language skills, literacy and brain development are all promoted by regular story-telling, and it is something in which parents or carers can play a very big part - not just in learning but also in developing fun, light-hearted family time.
Now the IWC is offering parents and carers a fun way to teach their children to "play and learn", with four free events to be held during the 2016 school holidays.
The focus is on literacy, and the aim is to empower parents and carers to g
uide their primary age children as they get to grips with reading and writing.
The first will be held on 6 April, and will be a "Mem Fox Event" - using a range of fun books including Hattie and the Fox by Mem Fox and Patricia Mullins, dress-up, puppetry, masks and much more.
There will be a farmyard theme, and we will be basing a range of activities around this, to be run simultaneously.
The fun will run over three hours, and include Songs in Action, art, a craft corner, story time, puppet show and reading corner.
The sessions are open to all children and their parents or carers, and as with all of our services will be delivered in a culturally appropriate way.
Each session will be held during the holidays, with the dates for the other three 2016 sessions being:
- July 6: NAIDOC Week Event.
- September 14: Dilly Bag Event (a dilly bag is a traditional Australian Aboriginal bag, generally woven from plant fibres).
- December 14: Christmas Event.
For details, contact Health Worker Neswaya Little, pictured preparing for the Mem Fox Event, on 1300 492 492 (1300 IWC IWC).
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IWC rallies to community SOS in Cherbourg
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The IWC is proud to be part of the Snuff Out Sniffing (SOS) campaign to be delivered in Cherbourg.
The SOS campaign is an anti-petrol sniffing grassroots initiative directed and controlled by parents and community members who are local to the Cherbourg area.
It is hoped that with the ideas and support of the local community, and the involvement of Elders, the Council, community leaders, government and non-government organisations (such as the IWC), parents and other groups that an important goal can be achieved - to Snuff Out Sniffing in Cherbourg.
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UQ students learn in the IWC environment
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One of our latest University of Queensland third-year medical students, Felicity Sinclair-Ford, has done a great job in creating a special brochure for people who have - or are at risk of - diabetes.
It contains useful tips about how to care for your feet, and explains how diabetes affects them. You can view and download it from Facebook or Yammer.
Felicity also went out to Gayndah in February to see the IWC North Burnett operations in action, and made herself very useful by helping out with some
hearing checks at a local school.
UQ medical students are regular visitors at the IWC as part of an ongoing partnership with the university. Third-year students come here on Rural Rotation, and First-year students as Observers.
Pictured above are IWC Clinical Governance Manager and IWC North Burnett Manager Jenni Toogood, IWC North Burnett Health Worker Kristy Drayton and Felicity Sinclair-Ford carrying out a hearing check. |
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IWC presents at inaugural Social Change Summit
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The IWC presented at the inaugural two-day Social Change Summit forum in Brisbane on 25 and 26 February.
The summit focused on Eradicating Australia's Ice Epidemic and Overcoming Indigenous Family Violence.
IWC Director and Chaplain Cheri Yavu-Kama-Harathunian delivered the Welcome to Country for the event, which attracted delegates and speakers from across Australia.
Aunty Cheri was a panel member and speaker at the Indigenous Family Violence forum, as was t
he Honorable Bess Price, Northern Territory Minister for Women's Policy.
The IWC's Janette Young attended the Ice forum.
Key information around Ice and Indigenous Family Violence relevant to the Bundaberg and Wide Bay / Burnett was gained, and will be provided to the IWC team and community.
Above: Aunty Cheri opens the inaugural Australian Social Change Summit and, right, the Hon Bess Price speaks to delegates.
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Major praise must go to the IWC Health and Wellbeing teams, which aredelivering significant outcomes in the area of health checks for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
In 2006, prior to the start of the delivery of Primary Health Care (PHC) services by IWC, a total of 3.4% of the Wide Bay-Burnett statistical division population identified as Indigenous.
At that time, approximately 43% of these Indigenous Australians were accessing PHC services, compared to 88% of all people nationally.
Today, the IWC delivers PHC services to 84% of the more than 3000 Indigenous Australians in Bundaberg and the North Burnett. However, this service delivery figure rises to around 92% when taking in those people who access our family and communities services as part of our whole-of-person approach to care.
We can now report that, as of November 2015, IWC delivers on average, every month, more than 60 Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS) Category 715 complete health assessment and checks to Indigenous Australians. This is a huge leap from the 2006/07 financial year - prior to the start of IWC PHC services - when just four MBS 715 checks were delivered to Indigenous Australians in the Bundaberg and North Burnett area for the entire 12-month period.
This total of four MBS 715 checks took into account ALL General Practices in the Wide Bay.
IWC is achieving outcomes that could only have been imagined back in 2007, and we have the hard data and improve clinical measures to back up this statement.
It is all due to the IWC's unique holistic, inclusive and culturally appropriate services, and the passion, compassion and professionalism of our team.
Does this mean that we are Closing the Gap, as per the Government definition?
We've certainly made a difference but IWC does not necessarily believe that the current "Closing the Gap" measures are correct, and that a measurable combination of both clinical and population health methods is required. With Closing the Gap, the current emphasis is on increasing the lifespan of Indigenous Australians. But we need to look not only at increasing lifespan of Indigenous people, but the quality of that life.
We need to sit down and talk with Government about this, and we would welcome the opportunity to do so.
There is no doubt that the work of the IWC around the effective, and sustainable, delivery of quality services to our Bundaberg and Wide Bay / Burnett communities is appreciated. We now have more than 12,000 clients, and climbing.
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holistic, high-quality health, wellbeing, family and community services are here to build the capacity of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, with a focus on the vulnerable, disadvantaged and at-risk.
By working with the community, for the community, delivering a holistic service that tackles the whole of person - mind, body, social environment - we are helping to deliver true Reconciliation in Action.
Through this, we are setting the scene - using a unique model - for major advances in health, wellbeing, family and community care that make a sustainable, long-term difference to our region, and to Australia.
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The IDEAS Van returned to the IWC on 25 February, in the first of many visits which will deliver a much-needed Ophthalmology service to our region for Indigenous adults with diabetes.
It was great to see that the IDEAS Van specialists were busy all day, delivering this vital service to our communities.
The IWC has become a regular port of call for a mobile medical service called the IDEAS Van. It will arrive at the Health & Wellbeing Centre at least every two months from now on.
IWC health staff have been trained to provide retinal eye testing here at the Centre in Bundaberg. This testing will lead, as appropriate, to follow-up treatment
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delivered through the specialists who come to the IWC with the IDEAS Van.
IDEAS stands for Indigenous Diabetes Eyes and Screening, and the IWC has been selected because it is the primary Aboriginal Medical Service in the Bundaberg and Wide Bay / Burnett region.
This particular service is targeting Indigenous adults aged 40 and over who have diabetes, and we encourage all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who believe they may have diabetes to take advantage of this service, delivered free to Medicare Card holders.
Call the IWC on 1300 492 492 to find out more.
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