A day for Donna and her fellow Bendigo Family Day Care Educators
From the moment you step through the front gate of Donna McArthur’s Kangaroo Flat home, you know you’re somewhere special.
There’s the little rowboat-turned sandpit in the front garden, the patio of tiny tables and outdoor toys, the warm welcome at the door and the sound of happy kids in the living room.
For the lucky children here, it’s akin to coming to nanna’s house, and that’s the way Donna loves it.
The early childhood educator began operating her own home-based business in 2020, with the support of Bendigo Family Day Care.
Locals discover skills for life at Wanyanimbik Wayawan, BCHS’ new alcohol and other drugs wellbeing centre
Bendigo Community Health Services has a new, dedicated multi-million dollar wellbeing centre for people seeking support with dependency issues.
Premier The Hon Jacinta Allan MP officially opened the centre this week, marking a major milestone during community health’s 50th year in the city.
Privately situated off Holdsworth Road, Wanyanimbik Wayawan has been established thanks to almost $4 million from the Victorian Government’s Regional Health Infrastructure Fund.
BCHS provides a home base for medicine reviews
We welcomed Bendigo UFS Community Pharmacist Jessica Thornton to our Hargreaves Street site this week, to ensure some of our clients of refugee background are on the right track with their medicines.
Jessica is part of the In-home Medicines Review Program, which does a great job of visiting people who are taking multiple medicines for all-important reviews, in their homes. The program has been running for approximately 20 years, but Jessica had never been to the house of a Karen person.
BCHS Refugee Nurse Veronica Steegs recognised a need for the service for her clients, so invited Jessica to start undertaking in-home reviews, in-house at BCHS, after referral from our doctors.
Coming together for International Overdose Awareness Day
Together we can. That’s the theme for this year’s International Overdose Awareness Day with a host of Bendigo organisations doing just that, coming together.
Bendigo Community Health Services (BCHS), the Salvation Army, Thorne Harbour Health, Australian Community Support Organisation, Youth Support + Advocacy Service, and Bendigo District Aboriginal Corporation are hosting a free community event and barbecue in the Bendigo Library Gardens from noon to 2pm on Friday, August 30.
Together, it will be a time to remember loved ones who are gone. Together, it will be a time to try to understand and reduce the stigma around overdosing. Together, it will be a time to learn, says BCHS Mobile Drug Safety Worker Tim Townsend.
Life lessons and personal rewards for BCHS’ first AOD trainees
Most of us have dreamt of an extreme career change at some point in life. Former tradies Jason Hardy and John Taylor are currently living theirs, thanks to a State Government initiative to bolster Victoria’s alcohol and other drugs workforce.
Former bricklayer Jason and baker John are Bendigo Community Health Services’ first Alcohol and Other Drugs trainees. They’re currently on a 12-month rotation to work in and learn about our AOD services, while completing a double diploma in AOD and Mental Health.
“It’s a massive change,” Jason says. “There’s not one specific thing that’s different, it’s all of it. I’d been laying bricks for ten years, but I’d wanted to do something like this for a while.”
A friend who knew him well forwarded the job link to Jason, which kickstarted a whole new life.
Life lessons and personal rewards for BCHS’ first AOD trainees
Most of us have dreamt of an extreme career change at some point in life. Former tradies Jason Hardy and John Taylor are currently living theirs, thanks to a State Government initiative to bolster Victoria’s alcohol and other drugs workforce.
Former bricklayer Jason and baker John are Bendigo Community Health Services’ first Alcohol and Other Drugs trainees. They’re currently on a 12-month rotation to work in and learn about our AOD services, while completing a double diploma in AOD and Mental Health.
“It’s a massive change,” Jason says. “There’s not one specific thing that’s different, it’s all of it. I’d been laying bricks for ten years, but I’d wanted to do something like this for a while.”
A friend who knew him well forwarded the job link to Jason, which kickstarted a whole new life.
BCHS’ submission into women’s pain highlights how we can prosper
We have nothing to lose and everything to gain by addressing women’s pain with a cohesive, multi-service, life course approach, BCHS has affirmed in its submission to the Victorian Department of Health’s Inquiry into Women’s Pain.
The service sought feedback for its submission through peer-reviewed research, a focus group and interviews with women experiencing pain. The issue overwhelming identified by local women and girls was the need to be believed and to have their pain experiences validated, not just by healthcare professionals but by society too, from educators to workplace leaders.
Being “dismissed by doctors and teachers”, told their symptoms were “behavioural or mental health issues”, as well as “poor support and no education around endometriosis” were recurring themes in BCHS’ interviews, with one respondent lamenting, “Why is it so hard to get a diagnosis? Why is it so hard to have people believe you are in pain?”
The big help that smalltalk offers
Tiffany Holschier knows only too well that it’s quality interactions with her kids that matter over quantity.
The full-time working mum-of-three brings that personal experience as well as her 14 years in childcare to her role as a smalltalk supported playgroup facilitator.
She has seen with her own two eyes the difference the playgroup can make for families.
“I had one mum and her little boy come in (after leaving a challenging home situation) and he had behavioural issues from stuff he had seen at home. Within one term he became a completely different kid, it was amazing,” she says.
Site revamp forges ahead in Eaglehawk
The total refurbishment of Bendigo Community Health Service’ Seymoure Street site in Eaglehawk is well underway and on schedule for completion in autumn, 2025.
Works started on the 48-year-old building last August, with local builders Franklin & Walsh contracted to bring the multi-million dollar plans to fruition.
BCHS CEO Mandy Hutchinson said once complete, the site will feature more usable space, state-of-the-art equipment, expanded services and dedicated community areas.
BCHS plates up a winning idea for healthy eating
There’s a new go-to kitchen staple that’s being embraced by Karen people in Bendigo.
Since launching last month, Bendigo Community Health Service’s melamine healthy eating plate has been a hit within the community.
More importantly, it’s doing its job of promoting a healthy diet for some of the city’s newest residents.
“We wanted to help the community better understand healthy eating in a way that’s targeted to their cultural diet,” said Cultural Strategic Health Project Worker Megan O’Keefe.
