Grampians Community Health continues to make a big contribution to the regional community and economy.
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The GCH annual report released on Thursday, November 30, shows the service provides valuable community health services, advocacy and employment opportunities while generating $62.2 million and about 400 local jobs over the past 12 months.
In his report, chief executive, Greg Little said GCH was dedicated to supporting people and families in times of need and addressing health and social inequities throughout the Grampians, Wimmera, and Western Victoria regions.
During 2022-23, GCH provided services from 72 different programs to 4044 people. The average age of clients was 50 and they came from 50 different countries of birth.
GCH staff answered more than 25,000 calls, delivered more than 10,000 meals and drove more than 750,000 kilometres.
There were 210 drives to medical appointments provided by GCH volunteers.
The most in-demand programs were alcohol and other drugs, counselling, family violence, NDIS, aged and disability in-home assistance, men's behaviour change, community nursing, home care package management, carer support and mental health.
Other highlights for the year included psychological safety support for staff, implementing a Specific Timely Appointments for Triage (STAT) model to manage and reduce wait times for counselling, the Supporting People with Intellectual Disability to Access Healthcare (SPIDAH) program, a coordinated project to address a lack of suitable and available emergency accommodation, outreach services to support vulnerable communities, and endorsing GCH's first Reconciliation Action Plan
Several of GCH's programs were showcased at the Alliance of Rural and Regional Community Health Services (ARRCH) conference in October.
Mr Little said workforce was a significant issue in regional Victoria but GCH continued to adapt by providing more flexible working conditions and onsite support to enable a work-life balance while maintaining the highest standards of clinical care.
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"Our entire GCH team share a common vision: Together, with our community we are all stronger," he added.
Board Chair, Tammie Schoo said 2022-23 had been a year to live the organisational vision "Healthy resilient people and communities".
"While we've thankfully seen the end of the COVID 19 pandemic, we continue to see, and service, the long-term impacts within our communities," Ms Shoo said.
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Ms Shoo said the Board had supported a budget to build greater capacity, and to ensure GCH had the leadership to drive programs that deliver the right services, to the right people at the right time at the right place.
The Board also supported a new client management system and a greater focus on cyber security to ensure the safety of organisation and client information, and built on collaborations to build the case for community health services in Victoria.
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