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President's Report

On behalf of the Committee of Management of CFA VIC I would like to thank all those members who responded to our recent survey. A report of the feedback from the survey is included in this newsletter. The information has provided valuable direction to the committee and will help us develop new initiatives to meet the needs of both the membership and the community. We noted in particular the needs of the rural sector as well as the need for further emphasis on raising community awareness of continence. Congratulations to Sharon O'Halloran the winner of our prize – registration for the 2010 CFA Conference in Alice Springs.

Apart from the survey and the oversight of the Victorian Continence Resource Centre we have been working to update our policies and procedures in order to help facilitate the transition of future incoming committees and provide for improved continuity. In particular we have been considering conflict of interest, recruitment strategies, induction process for new board members, succession planning, risk management and investment and financial procedures.

We are also proceeding in our efforts to find a new home for the VCRC as our lease expires at the end of 2010 and is unlikely to be renewed. If you know of any suitable accommodation please let us know. We need approximately 90 – 100 sq m of space and can share toilets and a meeting room.

We are very keen to continue to hear from you, our members, and hope to provide you with further opportunities to do so in future.

Best wishes
Judy Sincock

Survey Report

The CFA VIC Committee of Management (COM) submitted a survey to the membership in May 2010 in order to try to assess how the members understand our role, how well we are meeting the needs of the membership and to try to define new ways of fulfilling our role.

The survey was sent via email and a total of 75 members responded. This constitutes approximately 20% of the Victorian membership of CFA

Ranking the purposes of CFA VIC Branch – the following were voted most important:

•  Development of accessible continence services
•  Increasing community awareness of continence issues
•  Education of health professionals – generalists ie. GPs, aged care workers etc.
• Provision of access to help and information

There were many comments regarding the difficulties of accessing professional development education for rural based continence practitioners. Other comments highlighted the importance of raising community awareness of continence.

Inadequate/neglected areas

Many people commented favourably regarding the work of the CFA. There were several comments referring to the need to focus on education to specialist professions such as midwives, dieticians and the fitness industry, the need to support continence practitioners new to the area and provide networking opportunities in particular to those in the rural sector.

It was not always easy to be determined whether the comments referred to the role of CFA National (CFAN) or CFA VIC Branch. There appears a need to clarify the roles of CFAN and those more specific to CFA VIC Branch and also the services each offers to members.

By way of explanation, by joining CFAN you are automatically a member of CFAVIC. The Committee of Management of CFA VIC is drawn from the CFA membership in Victoria. We are responsible to the CFA members in Victoria but, since incorporation, the Committee also acts as the Committee of Management, or the board of management, for the Victorian Continence Resource Centre (VCRC). This committee is bound by the laws of incorporation to oversee the management of the VCRC. As individual members you too can have a say in how we support and advance the understanding of continence issues in our community.

From the results of the survey we have highlighted the following themes as worthy of further consideration:

• Fostering change of public perception/attitudes as well as increasing our presence in the community
•  Maintaining a steady focus on education amongst health professionals – GPs, aged care workers, MCH nurses etc
•  Raising the profile of rural education at both community and professional level and to provide the opportunity of networking in the rural sector
•  Emphasising a local focus as distinct from national
•  Consider mentoring programs or member support perhaps via hotline, newsletter or online education in future
•  Foster a culture of inclusivity within the membership especially for new members
• Engage input from key stakeholders
• Act as advocacy to policy makers on behalf of community and consumer groups about continence problems

Once again we thank all those who participated and congratulate Sharon O’Halloran the winner of our registration prize to the 2010 CFA Conference in Alice Springs.

VCRC Out & About

We have been incredibly busy in April May & June with community education, & health worker education and the projects – Continence in Ethic Communities and One step at a time. Calls from consumers have spiked with the CAAS to CAPS changes causing so much confusion. Also the release of One step at a time has increased the calls around toileting issues for children with a disability. Here is snap shot of some of the things we have been doing.

One step at a time professional seminar Parkville

We were overwhelmed with the response to this seminar. 100 health and educational professionals attended the seminar. The program was a great success with 100% of participants rating the day very good to excellent. Comments such as: Very informative – thank you…Realization that toileting and toilet skill development can be very complex…..Tip sheets are fantastic for families…Really enjoyed the bedwetting session

Thanks to the speakers: Fiona Davies, Linda Dodimead, Di Hasler, Susan McCarthy, Jeanie Symes and Shirley Whitaker.

Thanks to the trade that supported the seminar: Bed Guard, Conni, Ferring, FAS, Independence Australia Kimberley Clark/Huggies, Norgine, Ramsey Coote

One step at a time professional seminar Bendigo

We did the seminar all again a month later in Bendigo. Several of the 40 participants travelled from Melbourne as their colleagues had given the previous one rave reviews. Again the day was a huge success with participants rating it excellent to very good. Comments such as: Thanks what was presented was most worthwhile…Excellent program…Very good day…Good practical information

Thanks to the speakers: Michelle Larkin, Susan McCarthy, Jeanie Symes, and Shirley Whitaker.

Thanks to the trade that supported the seminar: Conni, Ferring, Lifehealthcare, Ramsey Coote and Victorian Healthcare Products

Simply Busting – Community Education Seminar

A new community education program ‘Simply Busting’ was held in Blackburn North on 5th May. The free session provided a fun and informal opportunity for the general community to find out about continence problems and prevention. Participants were also treated to information and product displays by the trade including Tena, Kimberly-Clark, In Touch and Cottons. The event was a success with 33 people attending and providing very positive feedback. Most found the program content to be extremely useful. Some comments about what people liked most included:

‘very informative’….
‘light hearted fun delivery of an embarrassing delicate subject’…
’display information very good’…covered topic in detail’

VCRC would like to thank the City of Whitehorse for the cash grant received to conduct the seminar. We would also like to thank Safeway and Bakers Delight, North Blackburn Square Shopping Centre for their support and not forgetting the trade companies too!

We hope to run more public community education events like this in other areas of Melbourne throughout the year. Stay tuned for more information.

Up and comming events

Professional Development Seminar: One step at a time 25 June Launceston Tasmania

Yes we are running the seminar again at the request of Tess Steel, manager of the Statewide Continence Service in Tasmania. There are around 45 people registered for the day. This time round Shirley Whitaker and Susan McCarthy are facilitating the day.

Simply Busting

We are running one possibly two Simply Busting sessions for the Polish community at their request. Recently they surveyed members of their senior citizen groups and continence problems were one of the four health issues that they wanted information and advice on. We will be working with Australian Polish Community Services to organise this event.

Increasingly we are receiving requests from CALD organisations for education because of the work we are doing within the HACC and CALD networks.

VCRC Projects

Continence in Ethnic Communities – Project Update

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. Several focus group discussions have been held so far within the six chosen ethnic communities. Just to recap, the communities being consulted are: Arabic speaking, Chinese, Italian, Greek, Polish and Vietnamese.

Within each community 2-3 focus groups are being conducted with older women, older men and where possible middle age women. Groups have been gender specific to encourage participants to attend and feel comfortable to participate given the sensitivity of the discussion. Key themes are emerging around lack of knowledge about incontinence, causes, prevention and treatment.

VCRC recently  presented a paper on the preliminary findings of the project at the 2010 Diversity in Health Conference held in Melbourne. The conference provided the opportunity to raise the awareness about incontinence amongst people working with CALD communities.

The project scope will now be extended to include four additional cultural groups as we have secured additional funding from, the Department of Health, Aged Care Branch. This will extend the project to early 2011, when it is anticipated that the final project outcomes and recommendations will be available.

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

One step at a time

The resource was launched  in April and is now a available. Requests for copies are rolling in from parents, health and educational professionals. If you would like a copy please send your request to info@continencevictoria.org.au Alternatively you can download a copy from our website www.continencevictoria.org.au

We have received additional funding to develop a version in basic English. This format aims to meet the needs of families who have limited English or low reading skills. It was decided this was a better option than translating the resource into specific languages. We explored the option of translating the resource but decided against it because of the number of languages, the cultural appropriateness of some of the material and the cost. Also many of the emerging CALD groups have low literacy skills in their first language because of the lack of education opportunities prior to coming to Australia. The format of the final resource is being explored. It may be a traditional printed booklet, DVD or Youtube presentation or something else again. Work will begin on the project later this year. We will keep you posted on our progress.

Meet our Volunteer

Gai Elwin has been volunteering at the Centre for the past year. She helps in various ways but mainly with getting resources packed for the educations sessions we conduct.

As part of our celebrations for Volunteer Week 2010 we had a special morning tea to say thank you to Gai.

CAW 2010 Are you sitting on a problem?

CAW Poster

The poster for CAW has been released and you will receive copies very soon if you have not already done so. More copies are available by request from National office for orders email T.Addison@continence.org.au

CAW Breakfast Launch

The breakfast launch for CAW is being held in Victoria as a combined event between CFA National and CFA Victoria. The details are as follows:

Date: 30 July, 7am – 9am,
Venue: The Boulevard Restaurant, 121 Studley Park Rd, Kew 3101

RSVP by Friday 23 July by phone (03 9347 2522) or email (m.trezise@continence.org.au)

Numbers are limited so please reply early.

You should  recieve an invitation in the post but if not you are invited !

CFA VIC AGM

CFA VIC AGM Wednesday 13 October 2010 4-6 pm - Put this date in your diary now!

We chose this day and time because in the recent members’ survey Wednesday between 4 – 6 pm were the most popular times members selected. We look forward to seeing you at the meeting where you will hear more details of the branch’s activities in 2009/10.

Details of venue and speaker are being finalised and will be sent to you closer to the date. 

PBC Expo - Help required!

Pregnancy Babies & Children

We again will have a stand at this very busy expo. We are looking for volunteers to help on the stand. Please call Lesley at VCRC on 9816 8266.

PBC Expo will be held at the Exhibition Centre (Jeff’s Shed) Friday 22 October to Sunday 24 October 2010

IPPG Conference Grant

The Incontinence products Promotion Group (IPPG) is pleased to make available six grants of $500.00 each to assist Clinicians to attend the CFA conference in Alice Springs from the 27th to 30th October 2010. The grants are to assist with travel accomodation or registration to the Conference

To be considered:

• You must be a Clinical Nurse Consultant, Continence Nurse Advisor or Continence Physiotherapist working in Victoria
• Provide a brief outline of any Continence Promotion/s you have held in the past year
• Have you expereinced any difficulties with the introduction of the Continence Aids Payment Scheme (CAPS) and how did you handle the issue?
• Are you already recieving any funding for the conference, yes/no and the amount?
• Are you aware of the IPPG in Victoria?

Applications are to be recieved by the 27th August 2010 and can be mailed or emailed to:

Bob Thornton

33-35 Tinning Street

Brunswick Vic 3053

Phone: 9494 4074

Email: bob.thornton@independenceaustralia.com