CONTACT

CFA VIC President's Report

Greetings from the incoming Committee of Management of CFA VIC

The disappointing support of the 2009 AGM and the election of office bearers suggests it' an interesting time for us and we have some challenges to meet. We are extremely grateful to Dee Greenwood and Bob Thornton for volunteering to come back on to the Committee and thank them both for the years of service in office and the generous spirit they have shown in returning. They will provide valuable continuity and links to the past as most of our committe is "neonatal".

There are still 2 vacant places on the Committee and we would be thrilled to have those places filled. There is a need to have as diverse a membership as possible and we would be grateful for your support and suggestions as to how we should go about this. Should you be at all interested I would encourage you to contact myself or another member of the Committe to discuss the roles and responsibilities involved. We are an incorporated body and as such are subject to certain governance controls.

The Committe are planning a survey of the membership in 2010 in an effort to try and tease out the underlying issues exposed by lack of response to the AGM. We are relying on your honest and frank feedback and urge you to respond. It is clear that we need invigorating and have prehaps lost sight of our purpose. Have we 'sprung a leak' and just how good are we at 'containment'.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you in 2010.

Judy Sincock

AGM CFA Victorian Branch

The AGM for CFA Victorian Branch was held on 14 October 2009 with 16 members present. The meeting had been scheduled for 16 September but was postponed as there were insufficient acceptances for a quorum. Due to the change in date the invited speaker was unable to attend.

In light of the poor attendance for the AGM there was some discussion around how the Branch can engage with the membership. The new committee of management will be seeking out your opinions - look out for a survey that will come your way in the New Year.

Two members nominated for the committee Judy Sincock and Michael Hum and were duly elected. An additional three members were invited and accepted to take up positions on the committee – Alan Frampton, Sharon Homberg and Shirley Whittaker. Dee Greenwood and Bob Thornton have returned to the committee. Following the first meeting of the committee the following office bearers were elected:

President: Judy Sincock
Vice president: Alan Frampton
Secretary: Sharon Homberg
Treasurer: Michael Hum

Subsequent to the meeting Barry Thompson has joined the committee so there are a total of eight committee members.

Because several of the committee live in regional Victoria the committee meetings will be held via teleconference.

One Step At A Time: a parent guide to toileting skills for children with special needs

A final draft of One Step at a time: a parent guide to toileting skills for children with special needs has been completed. The advisory group have worked extremely hard to get to this stage.

The format of the resource has been changed. There is a booklet that gives more basic information about toilet training plus a series of 12 tip sheets on common issues around toilet training a child with special needs. In addition the resource includes a set of toileting pictures.

At present the resource is being evaluated by parents and health professionals. The initial feedback has been very positive. Comments such as “The first toileting book that didn’t overwhelm me after the first page or two” “I like the way it is simply explained and straight to the point” “ Could you please send me a copy of the book when it is published”

A couple of parents have thought that some of the content is too general. Whilst this is something to be taken on board the booklet can only be a general guide and will never address every child’s individual needs.

The resource will be available from our website to make it more freely accessible. There will be a number of printed copies but numbers will be limited by the amount of funding we have available.

Our ambitious timeline of having the booklet completed by November has proven just that, too ambitious! Holidays and sheer volume of work were the main factors in having to change the project timelines. We are now planning to launch the booklet in February/March 2010. We are finalising the details of the launch. If you are interested in attending the launch please contact Lesley at the Resource Centre: 9816 8266 or info@continencevictoria.org.au
 

Overview of the VCRC activities

VCRC is active in the promotion of bladder and bowel control through a range of key activities. These include providing education (community and professional development), information resources, referral, and development of projects and partnerships to raise awareness of incontinence, its prevention and management.

Education

• Community education talks are provided to a range of community groups, including parents, schools, women’s and men’s groups, seniors and people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Popular talks include Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits, Water for Wellbeing and Toilet Training. In 2008/09 the centre conducted 31 community education sessions.
• Professional education programs are conducted for a range of health and community professionals including aged care nurses and carers, assessment officers and case managers. In 2008/09 the centre conducted 28 professional education sessions.

Information resources

• The centre distributes thousands of free information resources throughout the year at education sessions, expos, conferences and seminars, as well as by general order.
• New resources are also developed by the centre to target special groups or continence related issues.
• Resources that have been developed recently include:

1. Translations of Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits brochure into several languages
2. Water for Wellbeing Kit
3. One Step At A Time: a parent guide to toileting skills for children with special needs - redevelopment 
4. Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits - Menopause and Beyond and A Guide to the Childbearing Years

• The centre has a small collection of loanable items which include booklets, videos, CDs and DVDs. Arrangements can be made to mail these items.

Referral

The centre provides referral to continence clinics, continence product suppliers and the national continence helpline.

Projects & Partnerships

The centre conducts projects on new initiatives and continence related topics. Often external funding is sought from philanthropic grants and different levels of government in order to undertake these projects. Recent projects include:

• Water for Your Water Project – development of the Water for Wellbeing resource kit
•  Continence in Ethnic Communities Project
•  Redevelopment of ‘One Step At A Time’ toilet training for children with a disability

The centre also works in collaboration with a range of other organisations:

• Networking with national and state CFA branches
•  VCRC is a member of the North West CALD Partnership, which is a network of HACC funded organisations working in collaboration to improve access to services for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
   

VCRC - Out and About

We have been busy at the centre with a range of events and activities that we have been involved in recently. These include

Pregnancy Babies and Children's Expo - October

VCRC with the assistance of the CFA physio's group coordinated the CFA display stand and a posse of volunteer nurses, physio's and OT's  helped out with the stand to provide new or expectant mum's with information on women's health and pelvic floor exercises.

Carer's Week Expo - Whittlesea - October

A display of information for carers attending the expo was provided by VCRC with assistance from staff from the local continence clinic at Bundoora Extended Care. New carer resources and fact sheets were of interest to carer's that attended.

Independence Australia Wound Care and Continence Expo - Geelong - November

The CFA stand at the Expo was popular with both nurses and carer's that attended the expo.

Community Education Talks

Several community education sessions were given to community groups including Chinese, Polish and Arabic speaking.

New Project - Continence in Ethnic Communities - Project overview

The new project ‘Continence in Ethnic Communities’ has commenced and is in early development phase. The project aims to raise awareness of incontinence issues among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. It will also assist service providers to better understand the cultural and social influences impacting upon the continence care needs of CALD communities in order to provide more culturally appropriate and targeted care.

Currently an advisory group that is representative of ethnic and multicultural organisations and other key stakeholders is being established. The first meeting of the advisory group is planned for February 2010. Other work underway includes a literature review and collection of population data and continence service utilisation data concerning CALD communities.

VCRC acknowledges that there are many complex social and cultural considerations within CALD communities that may influence the experience of incontinence and how problems are acknowledged and addressed. These may include for example, social norms and cultural practices associated with marriage, childbirth, toileting, health seeking behaviour, barriers to accessing services and generational differences in CALD communities, among others.

The key objectives of the project are:

• To increase awareness and understanding of continence in CALD communities
• To provide service providers with resources to assist in understanding the information and support needs of people with incontinence from CALD communities
• To disseminate information about incontinence within different CALD communities
• To identify possible barriers to effective communication with people with incontinence from CALD communities
• To identify continence needs and issues among refugees as a subset of CALD communities

Key strategies include:

• Development of partnerships with key stakeholders engaged including representative CALD organisations
• Establishment of a project advisory group representative of CALD organisations and communities, service providers and continence services
• Collationof data and consultation to identify perceptions and issues in relation to incontinence among a number of CALD communities.Consultation methods to include focus groups and interviews using interpreters and bilingual workers.
• Development of education resources for communities and service providers about CALD perceptions and needs in realtion to incontinence
• Piloting of draft materials proir to finalisation and printing
• Launch of new resources and education forums for service providers
• Promotion and dissemination of new resources to CALD communities and service sector

For more information about the project contact Deborah Manning, Health Promotion Officer on 9816 8266 (available Tue/Wed/Thur) 

Simply Busting - New Program

'Simply Busting’ is a new community education program that is due to kick off in April next year. The first seminar will be held in the City of Whitehorse with the support of a local council grant.

The Simply Busting program provides a free seminar that is fun and informal for the general community to find out about continence problems and prevention. Participants also have the opportunity to check out continence products provided through trade product displays for consumers.

The model for the program has been run successfully in W.A. More seminars will be organised throughout the year with funding support from other local governments.

Stay tuned for further details about a date and venue.

Summer Heatwave - be prepared

Recent unseasonally hot weather in Victoria in November has brought back memories of the January 2009 heatwave, when the mercury was in the high 30’s and 40’s for an extended period of time.

The heatwave events during this time and the subsequent findings of the Department of Human Services report ‘January 2009 Heatwave in Victoria: an Assessment of Health Impacts’, demonstrate the importance of promoting adequate fluid intake among the elderly.

Data is provided in the report from sources including ambulance, locum GP visits and ED attendances. Direct heat-related illnesses included heat stroke, heat stress, heat exhaustion, heat syncope, heat rash and dehydration.

The report found that there was a substantial impact on health, particularly among the elderly :

• a 62% increase in deaths (total deaths 980)
• the greatest number of deaths occurred in those aged over 75 years (64% increase)
• 61% of all heat related cases were among those aged 75 years and older (of these 80% were transported to hospital by ambulance)
• 37% increase in emergency department presentations for those 75 years and older

The report goes further to state that there is a need to prepare for such heatwave events in an effort to protect vulnerable members of the population.

Given that elderly people were most impacted in the heatwave, special attention is needed to protect their welfare and ensure adequate hydration and other heatwave measures are taken.

To ensure that elderly people are encouraged to drink enough fluids throughout the summer, aged and community care settings and programs are encouraged to use the ‘Water for Wellbeing’ kit.

The kit was developed to promote adequate fluid intake among frail older people and is intended for use by staff in Community Care and Residential Aged Care facilities.

The evaluation of the project showed the information kit was successful in raising awareness of the importance of drinking adequate fluids for good health and the prevention and treatment of bladder and bowel control problems among frail older people in aged care settings. Users of the resources reported that the resources were particularly timely and useful given the extreme weather events experienced last summer.

The resources are available to download freely from the VCRC website. Or to purchase a CD ROM please contact our office on (03) 9816 8266 or email info@continencevictoria.org.au

Translations Available - Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits

Reminder that the 'Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits' brochure is now available in several languages including:

Arabic          Khmer

Chinese       Macedonian

Croatian      Turkish

Greek          Vietnamese

Italian

The information includes five tips for keeping your bladder and bowel healthy plus contact details for the National Continence Helpline

Translations are available to download from the website in pdf format.

Note: printed copies are not available to order at this stage.

NEW: VCRC WEBSITE

The VCRC has recently completed construction of its new website!. The site boasts a fresh new look and content that is easier to navigate.

We invite you to take a look at the new website and let us know what you think. We also welcome any suggestions for future updates and content.

www.continencevictoria.org.au