Blog

Remembering four brave Victoria Police officers one year on from the Eastern Freeway tragedy

: Thursday 22 April 2021; Written by Rod

Our Board of Directors and staff pause today to remember the four Victoria Police officers who tragically lost their lives on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne on this day 12 months ago.

The names of the Victoria Police officers are:

Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor.

Constable Glen Humphris.

Senior Constable Kevin King.

Constable Josh Prestney.

These members are in our thoughts today.

We also reflect on the selfless and valuable work of the Victoria Police and all emergency services workers in keeping our community safe.

Thank you all.

Bendigo Men's Health Clinic gets great support from Aviva Communities Bendigo social group's Blue Day

: Monday 19 April 2021; Written by Rod

WOW!

Sending out heartfelt thanks to the Aviva Communities Bendigo social group for inviting our Men's Health Clinic nurse practitioner Peter Strange to your Blue Day to talk about men's health.

We love getting out into the community to raise awareness around the need to look after yourself and answer questions people have around men's health and wellbeing in general.

Your amazing generosity in donating $1800 raised from the Blue Day to help our Men's Health Clinic keep caring for the community is just wonderful.

Thank you so much.

We love this great feedback too: "We all had a most enjoyable day and I'm still getting lots of compliments. It was for such a great cause."

It was our pleasure to support groups doing great things to raise awareness around health and wellbeing and we will be sure to use your donation to help people in need.

Keep up the great work!

To learn more about our Men's Health Clinic and how we are caring for the community click here

Last updated: April 19, 2021

Bendigo early learning childhood services celebrate proud achievements in improving health and wellbeing

: Sunday 18 April 2021; Written by Rod

Time to recognise some of the wonderful early learning childhood services that have been working very hard on improving the health and wellbeing of children, families, staff and educators through the FREE Achievement Program.

We've been supporting these early childhood services to make change and the results they've achieved in the past four months deserves recognition and praise:

Journey Early Learning Bendigo South has achieved Sun Protection benchmark

Jenny's ELC Epsom has achieved Healthy Eating & Oral Health benchmark

: Friday 16 April 2021; Written by Rod

For the latest on Bendigo Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine program click here

Did you know that flu can seriously affect your workplace?

Protecting against the flu is a great thing for any business to do for the health and wellbeing of staff.

Employees with flu can take an average of two weeks to recover so vaccinating staff can stop loss of productivity and reduce absenteeism.

The problem for a workplace is that the flu can be contagious before any symptoms show. So it is easy to spread influenza on to other staff members in the workplace. Vaccination is a great way of protecting your staff and your business.

Research shows that for every $20 a business spends on staff vaccinations you can save $115 in reducing lost productivity and downtime (comcare.gov.au).

This year it's even more important than ever to ensure your employees receive a flu shot as the risk associated with Coronavirus (COVID-19) is still real.

Know your business is safe and your staff are protected against the flu.

Bendigo Community Health Services runs a flu vaccination program to help businesses.

: Monday 12 April 2021; Written by Rod

Endometriosis is a painful condition that effects 1 in 10 women of reproductive age.

It’s estimated around 176 million suffer from this chronic condition across the world – many in silence.

Severe pain is the most common symptom especially before or during a period or sex.

Many women live with endometriosis totally unaware of the condition or what’s causing the pain they endure.

As part of Endometriosis Awareness Month our Women’s Health Clinic staff worked to make more women aware of the condition and the need to seek help.

Bendigo resident Chloe lives with endometriosis and answered some of our questions below to raise awareness about the disease and the importance of finding the right people to support you to ensure everything is being done to make life better ...

Did you know much about endometriosis and were you aware that was the condition causing your pain?

I didn’t know anything about endometriosis. I’d never heard of it until a family member mentioned it to me during a very heavy period. I thought it was ‘normal’ to get the heavy, painful periods I was getting until I went to my GP to seek help.

How did you find out where to turn to get help with endometriosis?

: Friday 9 April 2021; Written by Rod

There are a lot of questions being asked around the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine today.

Please only use trusted sources of information when learning more about the vaccine changes and recommendations. For the very latest use the Department of Health website

Here’s some answers to the most common questions:

What is this side effect everyone is talking about with the AstraZeneca vaccine?

There is evidence of a likely link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and an extremely rare blood clotting syndrome (thrombosis with thrombocytopenia). The recommendation from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) is that use of Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer) is preferred over AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in adults under 50 years old who have not already had a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Is the AstraZeneca vaccine safe?

: Thursday 8 April 2021; Written by Rod

Time to acknowledge the amazing health and wellbeing work being done by Bendigo businesses we've been helping through the FREE Achievement Program.

It's brilliant to see businesses making staff health and wellbeing a major priority and the great thing is they're already seeing fantastic results.

Here's some of the workplaces we've been helping and their results in the last eight months:

McKern Steel - Achieved the Mental Health and Wellbeing benchmark and the Alcohol and Other Drugs benchmark. Took part in the Climate and Health benchmark trial and received a $1000 grant.

Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-Operative - Achieved the Smoking benchmark and participated in an article/case study with the Cancer Council profiling their efforts in the smoking space.

Beck Legal - Achieved the Mental Health and Wellbeing benchmark.

: Tuesday 6 April 2021; Written by Rod

What are you doing to boost your wellbeing and strengthen your relationships in April?

Our Health Promotion team has used 5 Ways to Wellbeing to make a great 5 Ways April Calendar to give you some great ideas.

Just doing something each day can make a huge difference so our 5 Ways April Calendar will give you a brand new idea to try for every day of the month.

Now we've made it very easy for you it's time to get going right!

Here's your 5 Ways April Calendar:

Download your 5 Ways April Action Calendar and share with others pdf click here (1.03 MB)

Bendigo healthy eating guide to help workplaces choose the right options for catering

: Tuesday 6 April 2021; Written by Rod

Does your workplace get outside catering for events, meetings or gatherings?

Sometimes it's tough to decide on the most healthy food options so we're teaming up with the City of Greater Bendigo to change that for you.

The new Greater Bendigo Healthy Catering Guide will help workplaces choose easy, healthy food options that follow the State Government's Healthy Choices Guidelines.

We need cafes and caterers to support this idea so we can produce the best guide possible.

If you would like to get involved email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by close of business on April 16.

Thank you!

Bendigo COVID-19 vaccine - latest on Coronavirus vaccine rollout

: Friday 2 April 2021; Written by Rod

Last updated: April 13, 2021

IMPORTANT: Please see information about booking appointments below

Bendigo Community Health Services staff has started contacting clients eligible for the Phase 1B COVID-19 vaccine.

The 1B group includes people aged 70 and over, people considered 'high risk' due to a health condition or disability, healthcare workers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55 and over and critical or high risk workers such as defence, police, fire emergency services and meat processing.

BCHS has been approved to deliver vaccines from our Central, Eaglehawk and Kangaroo Flat sites.

Our GPs, nurses and other staff have completed COVID vaccine training to ensure our clinics run safely.

The first vaccines are expected to arrive next week.

We are not taking bookings for vaccines just yet and will let you know right here when that service becomes available.

Our Primary Health Director Graem Kelly said a complex array of challenges for both early delivery to priority groups such as the elderly, vulnerable or immune compromised and first line workers in health and other nominated industries was likely.

BCHS is already preparing for workplace vaccinations for COVID-19 as part of our preparations for the flu vaccination program for the upcoming winter.

Our nurses have completed their annual refresher around course around immunisation safety. Read more

Please stay tuned for more information on the COVID-19 vaccine and flu shots at Bendigo Community Health Services.

Bendigo Health is now running one of regional Victoria's allocated vaccine hubs to deliver the first shots in Bendigo. Learn more

The Victorian Government vaccination hotline is 1800 675 398.

Want to know when you will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine?

Subcategories

General
Community

For all events, information stands, men’s health week, women’s health week and the like
Discovering BCHS - meet our staff

Find out more about our amazing staff
kidzspace - a new era for BCHS

Our kidzspace project
Volunteers

BCHS recognises and thanks our volunteers
Partnerships

BCHS recognises and thanks our partners
From our executive

News from our executive
Celebrations

Celebrating BCHS's milestones
Men's Health Marathon

Bendigo Community Health Services runs the Men's Health Marathon in late August and early September each year - 11 days of activities designed to get men out, active and thinking seriously about their health.