Discovering BCHS - meet our staff - Bendigo Community Health Service

Discovering BCHS: Community health nurses work for healing and justice

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

Bendigo Community Health Services is home to more than 50 services and 250 staff. Take a journey through our organisation to learn more about our services and programs by meeting some of our wonderful staff through our blog Discovering BCHS…

TWO community health nurses have joined the multi-agency team helping central Victorian victims of sexual assault on their journey towards healing and justice.

Bendigo Community Health Services nurses Julie Sleeman and Liz Morley are based at the Multidisciplinary Centre in Bridge Street, offering free and confidential support, advice and education to clients and non-offending family members who have experienced sexual assault.

The pair work alongside staff from the Loddon Campaspe Centre Against Sexual Assault, Victoria Police Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team, and Department of Human Services Child Protection Investigation Unit.

Six Multidisciplinary Centres operate across Victoria and, as part of a recent initiative, all now have community health nurses practising within them.

BCHS employed Julie and Liz in February and they have been working closely with clients of the local centre’s partner agencies since. By the end of May they’d received 10 referrals – a much higher rate than the state-wide average for Victoria’s MDCs.

“Ours is an evolving role,” explains Julie. “We offer health assessments, provide health information and advice, and link clients into mainstream health services.

“It could be as simple as helping the client find a GP who can meet their needs, or identifying what their health needs actually are. But we have to start by creating rapport and trust – you can’t do anything until you have established that.”

Liz says sexual assault victims require sensitive and respectful care.

“People who have suffered sexual assault are known to have poorer health outcomes than the rest of the community,” she says. “These people have been let down, especially those whose abuse occurred a long time ago.

“So our wide-ranging role has been put in place to support them to improve their general health and wellbeing, in whatever capacity we can.”

The community health nurses help clients reach their health and wellbeing goals and can refer them on to other local health and community services for further support.

They can accompany clients to external appointments when asked, to help put them at ease, act as an advocate, or simply to offer support.

Julie and Liz also provide education to community organisations and health providers about the specific needs of sexual assault victims, given the trauma they have experienced.

“My experience is that it can be two steps forward, one step backward,” says Julie.

“It is about the clients leading the way, and they always have the choice to withdraw. If they do, they can re-engage with the nurses later if they wish. We are dealing with people who are not always predictable, because their trauma can make them think, feel and react differently.

“They can have very low self-esteem and sense of self-worth; we need to tread slowly and be patient.”

Both Julie and Liz bring vast experience to their new roles.

Bendigo-born Julie has been nursing for 40 years, including in the fields of drug and alcohol rehabilitation, schools, maternity and special baby care, and community care.

Most recently, she was a local community nurse with MS Australia for eight years.

Liz has 36 years’ experience. She most recently worked at Bendigo Health in acute health, telehealth in the Loddon Mallee region, nursing project management and education.

She has also worked at Castlemaine, Inglewood, Rochester and Dunolly hospitals.

The women are proud to be part of a broad-based approach to supporting sexual assault victims, and say being under the same roof as the other agencies makes their job easier.

“We are fortunate to have come into a culturally accepting workplace and been able to convey our purpose to the other staff here,” says Julie. “Being co-located at the MDC has helped them get to know us, so they trust us with their clients.”

Referrals for appointments to see a community health nurse at Bendigo’s MDC can be taken from the agencies within the centre, or MDC clients can self-refer.

The nurses are available Monday to Friday, 9am to 3.30pm, but are flexible to accommodate the needs of clients.

For more information, phone the Multidisciplinary Centre on 5444 6701.

Discovering BCHS: Meet our very own Spyder-man

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

HE’S a former publican, a Ulysses motorbike club member and a meditation devotee – meet Bendigo Community Health Services forensic alcohol and drug counsellor Lee Johnston.

When he’s not cruising around town on his distinctive red three-wheeled Can-Am Spyder, Lee is helping clients who’ve had run-ins with the law to regain their self-esteem and lose their dependence on harmful substances.

“I think I learnt most of my counselling skills from behind the bar,” says the man whose mid-life career change took him from serving alcohol to dealing with its destructive aftermath.

“I worked and managed pubs for years and you meet so many people from all walks of life.”

About 10 years ago, Lee became disillusioned with poker machines taking over from the traditional social scene at hotels and decided to put his long-held people skills to good use.

He completed a Certificate IV in alcohol and other drugs and was a case manager and outreach worker at a Salvation Army homeless shelter in Melbourne before joining BCHS five years ago.

The word “forensic” in his job title relates to the law and his referrals come court-ordered, via Australian Community Support Organisation and Bendigo Corrections.

“All my clients have some sort of drug and alcohol problem related to their offending,” he says. “I believe trauma underlies most of the problems - many have come from dysfunctional families and don’t have good coping skills. So they cope with alcohol and drugs.”

Lee says while the problems have always been there, his workload has grown since Victoria abolished suspended sentences in 2014, possibly due to more corrections orders being made.

Ice, heroin and cannabis are prevalent in Bendigo, he says, “but alcohol is by far the worst drug because of the problems it causes, its ease of availability and its constant promotion”.

The clients Lee counsels can be dealing with anger, violence, guilt and frustration, trying to reconcile their own lack of self-worth with society’s judgemental attitude.

“In my experience, humans are no different to animals – if they are mistreated, you have to build up their trust again. So I try to build that rapport with them.

“I am a big one for injustice and that’s what keeps me in the job. As a society, we are so judgemental of others. People don’t choose to be a drug addict, they are not born that way, and they don’t wake up one morning and choose it as a profession. It’s an addiction, but more importantly it is a health problem and it should be addressed as one.

“A five year old girl who is abused or brought up by an alcoholic father doesn’t choose to follow that lifestyle. But people who don’t ever experience these things don’t understand.”

He cites one client who wanted to hit him during a counselling session as an example of a response to a traumatic event. Before the situation could escalate, Lee identified the underlying issue and talked the man down.

“It turned out he was grieving a death, and he was just reacting to that so I understand where he was coming from. It doesn’t make his behaviour okay, but it does explain it.”

Lee’s approach involves cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness, focusing on the client’s behaviour and how to improve it, rather than attacking the person individually.

The most important part of his job is being a good listener.

“I had one client who had been around for a while and the feedback from her was that I really listened,” Lee says. “I listen without an agenda, with a focus on helping them manage their drug or alcohol problem.

“The change in them can be amazing – it is a process but that lady I just spoke about has been alcohol-free for three months and that makes my job worthwhile.

“One of my main beliefs is we that are all human and we all have feelings and emotions - men don’t have to be tough, that’s a complete fallacy.

“Hopefully clients feel they can relate to me. I don’t know what they’re feeling, but I can understand some of the things they’ve been through and try to validate their experiences.

“Then we can work towards finding their strengths, because they already know their own weaknesses. Just one little strength is enough to work on. I tell some of them to go kiss themselves in the mirror and say, ‘I love me’.

“It’s like throwing holy water over some of them, who’ve got no sense of self at all. It challenges their beliefs about themselves in a positive way.”

Lee says though he is not a religious man, he is spiritual.

He enjoys Reiki and the healing energy of meditation, but doesn’t force that onto clients.

“I do talk to them about breathing, though. We all need to learn to relax a little bit.

“Some people are so traumatised they are fight-or-flight - even when they’re asleep they have one eye open. And it simply tires them out.”

Away from work, Lee and his partner enjoy getting away and chilling out on his motorbike.

Or should that be motor-trike?

“I did have a two-wheeler but my partner wouldn’t ride on the back of it,” he laughs.

“We went to look at a three-wheeler, she sat on it I had to buy it because I couldn’t get her off. That’s my story, anyhow!”

The pair plan to attend a gathering of Spyder enthusiasts in Port Fairy in October and another muster Hahndorf, South Australia, next year.

His interest in bikes might give Lee some credibility with some of his clients, but he reckons he’s a big softie at heart.

“I’m a member of the Ulysses motorbike club, which is a social group for riders over 40. It’s not an outlaw gang, just a lot of older people riding around on their bikes, which is great.

“Well we are not really old, more like in our prime.”

Discovering BCHS: Louise puts controversial topics on the table

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

LOUISE Holland reaches into a storeroom box and pulls out a colourful array of plush toys.

“Meet Chlamydia!” she grins, holding up a green fluffball that, on closer inspection, isn’t quite so cute after all. “And this,” she says, waving a rather gloomy-looking yellow creature, “is Herpes. You have to make sexual health education fun, or people will just switch off.”

As a community health nurse and clinical consultant in women’s, sexual and reproductive health, Louise is well versed in the challenges of addressing topics traditionally swept under the carpet.

But she is involved in several key initiatives through Bendigo Community Health Services and external organisations to improve access to important information and programs.

“BCHS provides a diverse range of services in this area, from education down to one-on-one clinical consultations, including sexual health assessments, STI testing and treatment, blood-borne-virus counselling and contraception.

“We have a text buddy reminder service that sends SMS to young people for check-ups or results, free emergency contraception, women-centred early unplanned pregnancy counselling and referrals for terminations.”

All BCHS sites also stock free condoms in a basket at the front desk for anyone to use.

“I have four boys (now aged 18 to 26) and they probably feel scarred because they were exposed to them from a very young age,” Louise laughs.

“When they were in primary school they had to help pack the condoms in the little packs. It was an amazing initiative that forms part of our overall organisation public health response.

“We have deliberately put our hand up and said that sexual health is important to us as an organisation, which makes my job much easier. This is as important as our Thursday night soup kitchen, or our winter coat drive. It’s not a one-off thing - it is ingrained in our culture.”

Louise’s interest in her field was ignited during her early career as a midwife in Perth, partly by the experience of several young male relatives who unexpectedly became teenage dads.

“It was young women’s total lack of information and choice at the time that sparked my interest,” she says. “I was the midwife seen as the one who could look after teenagers having babies because I could work so well with them and it just all stemmed from that.

“It also comes from an absolute desire for women to be empowered to make informed choices about their lives, rather than sex being seen as something that just happens to them.”

She is liaising with staff and clients from various agencies on an integrated health promotion project, which includes workplace women’s health talks and school education sessions.

These engagement strategies aim to “highlight the services available, increase knowledge, decrease misinformation and dispel myths around sexual health”.

Louise chairs an internal BCHS network to encourage staff to be aware of sexual health regardless of what they are seeing a client for, and refer them on if needed.

She is also a lead worker on a joint project with the Victorian AIDS Council related to sexually transmitted infections and blood-borne viruses, trying to smooth the referral pathway to make it easier and less confronting, especially if clients wish to remain anonymous.

This includes working with agencies where sexual health is not core business, but who have an interest from working with the initiative’s target groups: young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, gay men, and those of culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Louise says the main barrier to people using the sexual health services they need is accessibility, and that’s why her work in the wider community is vital.

“You can have a building, a door and someone sitting at reception, but if you are not visibly seen to be accessible, people in the priority groups just won’t turn up,” she says.

“If you are met with a difficult process to see someone, like you are put on hold on the phone too long or no one is available that day, you won’t do it again.

“If you get through initially but feel your needs are not met, like someone follows a script instead of looking at you as a whole person, you may go once but you’ll never go back.

“If the language is not sensitive to the natural language of the client (using complex medical terminology with a young person, or not engaging an interpreter for a non-English speaker), you will be seen as a non-sensitive practice and negative word of mouth will spread.

“If you charge an exorbitant amount and the client has no money, they are not going to turn up. And if you don’t explain privacy and confidentiality or you don’t act on it, for example you send them a letter home in the mail, they will not come back.”

Louise says she has always been interested in the big picture, even when she was a midwife.

“Some nurses see their ultimate role as getting their patients discharged from hospital.

“But I was always interested in what happened to patients after they left hospital after having a baby – was the mum going to go and get contraception, did she have a good doctor, would she be comfortable talking to them? And I asked those extra questions.”

This stands her in good stead today, as she campaigns to make sexual health a priority for all.

Away from the office, Louise is equally passionate about sport. She plays tennis for St Liborius, is secretary of the Eaglehawk and District Tennis Association, and is one of the netball coaches for Bears Lagoon Serpentine in the Loddon Valley league.

“Ultimately, I would like to work in some remote areas of Australia where the access to health care services isn’t easy and feel like I am making a difference there.

“That sense of social justice flows strongly through my veins and it is probably why I sit really well within community health. Battling to get funding for people who don’t have a voice is at the very foundation of what I do.”

Discovering BCHS: Conchita's grand adventure of life leads to Bendigo

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

SHE was born in the US to Mexican migrant parents, converted to Islam while doing volunteer work with disabled children in Pakistan, then married an Australian citizen she met in Miami and moved Down Under.

Now Conchita Ollivier is living in Bendigo and helping Karen and Afghan refugee families who resettle here find their feet when they first arrive in their new home town.

Conchita’s own multicultural background and experience moving to the flip side of the world make her ideal for her role with Bendigo Community Health Services’ settlement team.

“Our goal is to help them integrate and become independent,” she says. “We focus on English, education and employment and build their capacity to reach their potential.

“I want my clients to always feel they have been treated with respect and had a fighting chance here: that we’ve given them a fair go and helped them understand Australian values; that they are completely included so that they truly feel part of us.”

There is, however, much more to this quietly-spoken case worker than first meets the eye.

Conchita studied psychology, biology and social work at university, at the same time working with autistic children using “applied behaviour analysis” therapy to develop their life skills.

She took three months off one summer to go to Pakistan where she used that knowledge to assist families with children suffering serious, often undiagnosed disabilities.

“One family had a seven-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and all she could do was lie there on her back,” Conchita recalls.

“For three months, we applied all the exercises I knew and were trying to figure out how to get her more mobile. By the end of the trip, I was able to organise someone to make her a walker, like what a baby would use but bigger, and she was able to greet her dad at the door.

“It was amazing - she had no mobility before and in three short months that was possible. I always wondered what more she could do if she had access to the right treatment.”

Conchita describes that trip to Karachi 16 years ago as an incredible growth experience that taught her a lot about human resilience and the importance of not “sweating the small stuff”.

“The living conditions were not the best. Coming from a middle-class family in the US, I was used to a lot of comforts but I had to live like everyone else there.

“It was good for my character and encouraged me to continue my health profession studies.

“But what really impacted me in Pakistan was, I couldn’t believe how happy the kids were – they were barefoot, playing in the streets, may not have even had a proper meal that day, but they were laughing and seemed so happy and content with their lives.

“I look at children back home and so many have depression and other issues, they’re almost swallowed up by the world’s small issues. Then you have these people with significant problems who are still putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward.”

Conchita is fluent in both Spanish and English, understands Urdu and has learnt to read Arabic, the language of the Koran, since becoming a Muslim while volunteering in Pakistan.

She married and moved to Melbourne in 2002, and has been in Bendigo for the past six years with husband Sameer, a mechanical engineer, and sons Adam, 8, and Joseph, 5. Baby number three is due in September.

“We love it here,” she says of Bendigo, “everyone has been so friendly and welcoming.

“It’s very different from living in a big city but we wanted a place with that country feel for the kids to experience. Even though we are in a residential area, we thought we were living on a farm and when we first arrived, we even got two lambs to have in the back yard.”

Conchita spent her early years here home caring for her boys, then returned to work when they became more independent.

She started at BCHS last December, but has also been extremely active in the community.

“I was always out and about doing volunteer work,” she says. “I was involved in the Muslim community and the Believe in Bendigo campaign. I know a lot of people in town – Muslim, non-Muslim – because I am an active participant. I don’t stay home much.”

Conchita has been part of an interfaith panel visiting local secondary schools and is very supportive of the special needs community, especially families dealing with autism.

She is also a big proponent of organic food and has set up a small delivery service called Organic Town, which she operates on top of her refugee work with BCHS.

“I noticed that my kids thrived so much when they were having good, organic, non-processed food, so I have been a great advocate for that.

“A lot of families don’t give their kids organic food because they can’t afford it, so I thought if I could source it for my family and then pass it on to our local community, it’s a win-win.

“I meet a lot of people through my deliveries. Sometimes I worry are they going to be shocked when they see this Muslim lady at their door. I have had a few people think I am just there propagating my religion, but I just say no, I have your organic delivery!”

Organic Town has taken a back seat this year, because Conchita is recovering from a badly broken femur suffered during her family’s annual holiday home to visit relatives in America.

“It happened while I was ice skating in Las Vegas on December 29,” she says of the injury that required two rounds of surgery and left her in a wheelchair initially.

She remains on crutches almost five months later.

“You know, we tried to play it safe,” she sighs. “We don’t gamble, we don’t drink, we didn’t go to ‘the Strip’ but I still got injured.

“We had to stay in the US an extra month because I couldn’t fly home. Then I had to fly back business class because of my leg, which I would have enjoyed if I wasn’t in so much pain.

“I found out I was pregnant when I got home – I would have been even before my accident - and had to be awake for my second surgery as they only used a local anaesthetic.”

Conchita plans to take maternity leave later this year but is keen to return and continue her work with Bendigo’s refugee community

She is proud of what BCHS offers the new arrivals and delighted by their success stories.

“We have a high employment rate among the Karen and Afghan at the moment, which is really pleasing.

“One Afghan family is the first among their community to purchase a house, which is a really big step. It just takes one to encourage the others they can also achieve their dreams - show them that they have done it and are still okay.

“To be a migrant in their circumstances and have bought a house is a big accomplishment.”

Conchita loves helping people and is grateful to BCHS for giving her an opportunity.

“I am very thankful that someone took a chance on me – I am a bit of a wild card because my work experience is all over the place.

“And I’d be lying if I didn’t say I have a lack of confidence, partly because of wearing a scarf. I worry sometimes it might not be the image people want representing their company.”

But Conchita is determined to do everything she can to promote harmony and understanding.

It’s one of the reasons she returns to her birth-land every year around Christmas.

“My parents are Christians and my sons get to experience it with their cousins.

“It is important for them to have good relations with different faiths, as they do within our own family. I grew up in a very open-minded environment and I want my children to treat everyone the same and know that they can break bread with anyone.”

Discovering BCHS: Lynne follows childhood dream into nursing

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

LYNNE Murphy has spent decades shining a light on family planning and sexual health issues in Bendigo – and she couldn’t imagine her life panning out any other way.

“I always wanted to be a nurse, even as a little child,” she says, flashing the comforting smile that has reassured the countless clients who have passed through her clinic during her 35 years at Bendigo Community Health Services.

“I had a nurse’s cape and stethoscope from when I was about five years old!”

Lynne works three days a week as a community health nurse at Eaglehawk, providing pap smears, family planning and sexual health guidance, HIV counselling, women’s health advice and a caring shoulder to lean on for all who seek her services.

“I love the people,” she says of her calling, “and if I can make a difference in their lives in some little way, then that’s really special to me.

“In a couple of families here, I have been introduced me to their fifth generation. It’s wonderful that they think enough of me to come in and say g’day - they also know they can come to me any time I am here and I will make time for them.”

Lynne was born and bred locally and trained at the Northern District School of Nursing and Bendigo Base Hospital.

She joined BCHS after the birth of one of her four children and soon completed further training in the areas she was passionate about: family planning and sexual health.

There’s no such thing as a typical day in her clinic, where she can be called upon to discuss menopause issues, talk about breast examination, offer contraceptive options or treatments for a range of sexually transmitted diseases and blood-borne viruses.

She nominates the drug ice as one of the biggest scourges facing the local community, and deals with its after-effects even though she is not on the front line in that field.

“Ice is widespread in Bendigo and it has an impact on many different aspects of family life. I don’t know how to address it but support for people who are affected by it – not just those who use it – is important.

“It can result in family violence situations and sometimes that comes out in an interview with someone who has just popped in for a pap smear, and you start to unpack how things are going at home and if there are any other issues.

“Sometimes that just opens a can of worms and at the bottom of it all will be ice. It’s sad.”

“Unemployment is another issue that can lead to family violence and I see those two things as having increased over the years.

“But people need to know there is always a door open here and they can come in and what they say in this room stays in this room, unless of course it is going to pose a threat to them.

“That’s something we pride ourselves on.”

There is, however, much more to Lynne than just her nursing career and the time will come for her to put her well-worn “cape and stethoscope” away permanently.

“Retirement is very inviting,” she says. “I am 67 years old and I’d like to think it is in the foreseeable future.”

With 13 grandchildren, an interest in gardening and cross-stitch and the Woodbury lawn bowls club awaiting her, there’s plenty to keep her active away from the clinic.

High on her priority list is more time on the bowling green.

She is a four-time club champion, won the women’s pairs titles on several occasions and more recently was part of the club’s champion mixed pairs combination.

Lynne says working in women’s and sexual health and family planning has been a fulfilling career and she’s proud to have spent so long working in community health.

“A lot of people don’t like to talk about things below the navel,” she grins, “but it has been very interesting and very rewarding and some special friendships have developed through it.

“Knowing people trust you enough to come to you with intimate issues is very pleasing.”

FOOTNOTE: Lynne retired from her role at BCHS in 2016. We miss you Lynne!

Discovering BCHS: Educators love 'light-bulb' moments for people managing diabetes

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

Diabetes educators Cara Jamieson, Jan Moore and Leanne Rankin.

THEY call it the “light bulb moment” – the point at which someone diagnosed with diabetes realises they can get their symptoms under control and largely self-manage their illness.

For those living with the chronic condition, these moments are life-changing; for the Bendigo Community Health Services diabetes education team, they make going to work worthwhile.

“I have one client, a young person with a lot of psycho-social issues, who needed to start on insulin because their diabetes was very poorly controlled,” explains Jan Moore, one of three credentialled diabetes educators who work at BCHS in Eaglehawk.

“It has been a big challenge and taken a long time, but I have seen that little light bulb go off and this person has now managed to achieve excellent control of their diabetes and they are now engaging in work and engaging with other people socially.

“I am most proud of moments like that, because of all the hard work that person has put in to get to where they are now.”

Jan’s colleagues – Leanne Rankin and Cara Jamieson – agree.

“All of us can think of at least one person like that who has made our job worthwhile, because we see their success as our success,” says Leanne.

The three women form a specialist team within BCHS that provides diabetes education and support five days a week in Eaglehawk, as well as outreach services at Strathfieldsaye, Elmore and the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative.

Research shows that people with well-controlled diabetes from diagnosis can drastically reduce their long-term risk of complications including heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, ulcers, amputations, blindness, impotence, gastric problems and related mental health issues.

“Poorly controlled diabetes damages nerves and blood circulation to those areas,” says Jan.

The diabetes team works together with clients to help them self-manage their condition – and one of their biggest challenges is having them realise why this is so important.

“With chronic conditions, most of what needs to be done, has to be done by the person living with it,” says Jan. “Our role is to work with people to discover what works well for them.

“They can sit down with us and learn what diabetes means for them, how it’s going to impact on their lifestyle and what they can do to manage their own condition.”

This involves developing strategies for taking medication, explaining how the medication works, how to use insulin pens and glucometers, encouraging healthy eating and exercise, and linking clients with other professions like podiatrists and optometrists.

“One challenge is helping disadvantaged clients access fresh, nutritious food - helping them understand why they need it and overcoming a perception it costs a lot of money,” says Cara.

Social isolation and transport, mobility or safety issues can also hinder exercise, so the diabetes educators assist clients to overcome these barriers and find activities they enjoy.

The team says patients are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at a much younger age due to changing lifestyle factors.

And the longer they have the disease, the more serious risks they potentially face.

“I have been working with diabetes since 1996 and back then I rarely saw someone aged under 60,” says Jan, “but now many of our clients are in that category.”

Adopting a healthy diet, exercising and managing weight and stress levels can all lower the risk of diabetes, and BCHS also offers a Life! program to start people off on the right track.

Jan, Cara and Leanne are all qualified nurses who have completed specialist graduate training and are members of the Australian Diabetes Educators Association.

Clients can be referred to the diabetes education program through GPs or can call the BCHS complex in Eaglehawk to request an appointment, which attracts a small fee.

Each patient is triaged according to their needs and the most urgent cases are usually seen within a week.

Jan says a major aspect of the team’s job is advocacy – guiding diabetics past the shock of diagnosis and steering them towards the myriad services that can make their lives easier.

“The services can be quite accessible, but people often don’t know they are there.”

Jan has been a nurse since 1977, working in community health for more than two decades.

“I was a real jack of all trades to start with, but when I moved to Bendigo and started working at BCHS in 2001 just in diabetes and respiration, I was able to consolidate my knowledge in just those two areas and that felt really good,” she says of her more specialised role.

Her passion outside of the clinic is miniature horses – she drives them in harness both for fun and for show and enjoys the challenge of getting them working well.

Leanne has been a diabetes educator for 10 years, working in Rochester before moving to BCHS less than two years ago. She also has extensive experience in district nursing.

“I have always been a sole operator, so it’s nice to be part of a bigger team here with a bigger network around you,” she says. “One of our strengths is that we are three very different people with different approaches, but we work really well together.”

When she’s not at work, Leanne enjoys craft work and hand-makes goods including greeting cards and tea cosies. Some of her tea cosies are sold in stores under the Knit to Milloo label – a nod to the family farm between Lockington and Dingee where spent much of her adult life.

Cara is a Bendigo mum of three who enjoys gardening, renovating, cooking and reading.

She worked in women’s health, emergency nursing and hospital discharge planning before developing an interest in diabetes education and joining BCHS in 2009.

“I find it so rewarding when you’ve been working with a client for months and that light bulb moment happens and they come back weeks later having made massive changes that have had a positive impact on their lives,” she says.

Her closing message echoes the National Diabetes Week campaign slogan.

“We are here to help you, in any way we can.”

Discovering BCHS: Meet our very own Mr Fix It

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

NO job is too small for Bendigo Community Health Services handyman Alan Campbell.

The 72-year-old has been Mr Fixit at the organisation’s Elmore site for more than a decade, using the skills he honed as a registered part-time builder to repair and maintain the facility.

“A lot of my work is fixing things like door locks and changing fluorescent light tubes and other fiddly things around the place,” says Alan, who was a merino sheep farmer at Knowsley before moving to Elmore and building his own house there.

“Once a month, I also come into the Central and Holdsworth Road sites to run the two generators – they are battery-started and I run them for half an hour to charge the battery up and every three months the unleaded fuel goes stale so I have to change that as well.”

The generators allow BCHS staff to continue operating computers, refrigerators and other electrical equipment during power outages.

“They are there for emergencies,” says Alan. “Two or three years ago at Holdsworth Road, there was a breakdown fault in the underground power and they had to use the generators for several days.”

Alan joined BCHS in July 2005, after he was approached by managers at Elmore and asked if he was interested in the handyman role.

“It is a good organisation and helps a lot of people,” he says.

When he’s not tinkering with his tools, Alan enjoys a game of golf at the Elmore Golf Club, where he is vice-captain and volunteers to mow the fairways.

A father of two and grandfather of five youngsters aged between two and eight, he also enjoys hooking up his caravan and travelling far and wide.

In 2014, he spent four months driving 20,000km through Central Australia to Darwin, around and down the west coast, then back across the Nullarbor Plain.

“This year I am planning to go to inland outback Queensland, then across to the east and back down the coast for a couple of months.”

Discovering BCHS: From rice tester to the friendly face of Bendigo Community Health Services

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

MOST people know her as the friendly face at the front desk of Bendigo Community Health Services in Eaglehawk, but Jacinta Fleming has taken an interesting road to her current role.

“This is my first client services job,” she says of the position welcoming the hundreds of men, women and children who visit the medical and allied health centre every week.

“I was a rice tester initially.” Say what?

“It involves jumping on the back of big semis that come into the silos and putting a plunger tube into the rice to take a test and make sure there’s no moisture or burrs or foreign matter.

“If there’s too much moisture in the rice and it gets into the silos, it will set the whole lot off and make it go mouldy.”

Jacinta worked at rice storage silos situated at Caldwell, NSW, between Barham and her home town of Deniliquin.

After moving to Bendigo, she worked for over a decade at Hazeldene’s chicken farm before becoming a mother and cleaned the Allara Motel in White Hills while her kids were young.

She has now been at BCHS for almost six years and loves meeting and greeting clients and getting to know them.

“We have a lot of elderly clients and they love to have a chat,” she says.

“It’s not just about making appointments and attending to them and putting them in their seat, we try to be social and make our clients feel welcome and comfortable.

“It’s always lovely to see them. You also might see them down the street and they will wave to you and that’s quite nice.”

For the past year, Jacinta has also volunteered with the BCHS Community Connections dementia project – speaking directly to sufferers and their families to uncover their needs.

The project aims to increase the community’s capacity to deal with dementia by providing the support and services they actually require, rather than what others think might be useful.

Ironically, Jacinta’s father was diagnosed with early-onset dementia and agreed to be filmed talking about his experiences – though at the time she wasn’t fully across her dad’s situation.

“He’d been diagnosed about four years ago, but he later told me it had been misdiagnosed and the forgetfulness was because of his medication, so I thought he didn’t have it any more.

“During the interview, I realised he really did have it and my jaw just about hit the floor.”

Jacinta says she has learnt so much about dementia and its effects from talking to those affected, and is now more confident about helping her own family through the journey ahead.

“I can give my family more information now than I could have a year ago. I talk to my dad about it now, about things that can and may happen. He might not remember down the track, but he remembers now so why not talk about it?

“You can’t push it to one side and pretend it’s not there, because it is something he has got and it is there. And I have more confidence speaking about it because I know so much more.”

Jacinta says she values the importance of community health, having seen people travel from all around Bendigo to seek affordable treatment and services at the Eaglehawk clinic.

Her job takes patience, understanding, and a great big dose of caring.

“You really have to care for everyone who walks in that front door - everyone is different, so you have to learn who they are and what they like, especially the regulars.

“You get to know their doctor too, so that when they call or come in, you don’t even have to ask who they need to see because you already know.”

Away from work, Jacinta is a big fan of Richmond in the AFL and Huntly in the Heathcote and District league. While she no longer plays netball for Huntly herself, she still helps organise the traditional Thursday night teas for all the footballers and netballers.

She also loves watching son James, 13, and daughter Emily, 10, on their sporting fields.

“We enjoy travelling, too, though we don’t go too far. Usually it is up to mum and dad’s at Deni, or camping for the weekend to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.”

Discovering BCHS: Sue driven by true passion for helping refugees

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

HELPING refugees adjust to their new lives in central Victoria is more than just a job for Sue Ghalayini – it is a rewarding vocation that has carried over into her personal life as well.

As part of Bendigo Community Health Services’ humanitarian settlement service team, Sue has been so touched by the harrowing stories of displaced families she encounters that she felt compelled to visit two Karen refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border to see for herself.

“I took as many things with me as I could to distribute to the people there, who have absolutely nothing,” she says of her trip last year to the large-scale Mae La camp, which has 30,000 residents, and the smaller, more isolated Ban Mae Surin camp.

“This included first aid supplies, colouring books, soccer balls and wind-up torches for the women and children to find their way to the toilet at night, which can be quite dangerous.

“Some Karen families in Bendigo also gave me items to take to relatives who are still in the camps, and I visited a family that had been assigned to me to come to Bendigo, but had been postponed because of health problems, which was devastating for them.”

Even though Sue knew conditions in the camps were extremely tough, she was still not fully prepared for what awaited her.

“I was really dismayed because one camp was so remote that the sense of helplessness there was immense. There were 3000 people in the middle of nowhere with a trip of many hours across rivers in a 4WD to get to civilisation.

“I don’t know how they get supplies, especially during the wet season. They just have to manage the best they can – these beautiful young families, many with no hope of ever leaving because they don’t have anyone to sponsor them.”

Sue has now offered to personally sponsor a Karen family from Mae La to come to Bendigo.

“They have no one – when you read over their documents, everyone else in their family is dead and it is just this young couple and their daughter. A Karen family here helped me sponsor them and hopefully their application to come out here will be approved soon.”

The 51-year-old mother of two is a volunteer firefighter in Sutton Grange, where she has lived for 30 years, and is also on the local hall committee. These activities give her a real sense of belonging in her community, which she aims to help replicate for refugees locally.

“My job is all about creating inclusive social communities and an environment where these families have that sense of belonging.

“Some of the children and young adults have never known anything other than a refugee camp, so they’ve never felt they ‘belonged’ anywhere. But they adjust to Bendigo so well.

“I am astounded how quickly they are driving cars, or shopping in supermarkets – something so simple, but so challenging for them when they first arrive. Or when I see their children speaking English and getting an education after just a short time here, it is so wonderful.”

BCHS has about 200 refugees on its books, mostly Karen and Afghani. It offers primary settlement support for up to 12 months, with secondary support lasting up to five more years.

“The biggest part of my role is advocacy,” says Sue of the primary settlement program.

“My clients don’t have a voice so I advocate for them in all aspects of their settlement in Bendigo that they find challenging.”

She assists with tasks like finding accommodation, enrolling children in school, dealing with power and other utility companies, accessing Centrelink services, navigating our health system, or something as simple as using an automatic teller machine for the first time ever.

She also liaises with other refugee service providers to ensure they provide appropriate, culturally sensitive practices, including interpreters, and links them with settling families.

It is a far cry from her former life milking goats and making cheese at the Holy Goat Cheese farm, where she worked immediately before going to university at the mature age of 41.

“The cheese farm was physically hard work and it wasn’t my passion – I’d always wanted to do social work, even when I lived in Melbourne, but I moved here and started having babies.

“It was a difficult decision to quit my job and become a full-time student because I was a single parent bring up two kids at that stage. I worked part-time for family services at the Salvation Army on Saturdays to help us get through.”

Sue completed a work placement at with BCHS during the final year of her masters of social work, and ended up getting a job in settlement services after she graduated.

She says the organisation provides support and programs crucial to the physical and mental health and wellbeing of refugees who are granted settlement in Bendigo.

“Where they have come from, they have had to deal with things we could never even begin to comprehend,” she says. “They have experienced grief, torture, trauma, displacement and have lost everything. Without that initial welcome and assistance, they would flounder.

“But Bendigo has been such a welcoming society – there are hundreds of people providing services and assistance for refugees in this city.

“People in the overseas camps are actually choosing to come here and live as their original settlement area. And the amount of transfer requests made to come to Bendigo is amazing.

“We even have Karen families buying homes here now, which is a great achievement – it takes about six years on average, but many are moving into their own homes.”

Sue has always thrived on being deeply involved in her local community and says her job at BCHS gives her enormous personal and professional satisfaction.

“I get to make those phone calls to families when I get referrals, telling them they are coming to Bendigo - and that is just so exciting.

“Who could not love a job like that!”

Sue is also a CFA volunteer with the Sutton Grange brigade.

Discovering BCHS: Paul dedicated to keeping young people in school

: Friday 9 December 2016; Written by Rod

TRAINED psychologist Paul Taylor understands that moving from primary to secondary school can be stressful for any child, let alone those in danger of disengaging from education.

He also knows it is vital these at-risk students be supported and encouraged through that tricky transition to give them the best chance of reaching their full potential.

“People who reach Year 12 have better life outcomes than those who don’t,” says Paul, who is Bendigo Community Health Services’ school-focused youth service program co-ordinator.

“That encompasses health, employment, and all sorts of things - a child who finishes Year 12 has a longer life expectancy than a child who does not and their earning power is increased, so they pay higher taxes for longer.”

Paul is funded by the Department of Education to build partnerships between schools and community groups that inspire kids to keep coming to class.

He was instrumental in setting up a program linking 20 children stepping up from primary to secondary school in Eaglehawk with the Smith Family charity, which employed a transition co-ordinator to oversee the process.

“The co-ordinator worked with kids who were likely to struggle with transition to help keep them engaged,” says Paul. “This can be a time where kids can slip through the cracks, so it is important families know about the supports that are in place to help them.”

Paul says the program was an overwhelming success.

“One of the first things that suffers with kids who are disengaged is attendance. They get up in the morning and walk out the door and never make it to school for whatever reason.

“But the kids in this program had an attendance level of about 96 per cent, which was above average compared to the rest of the year seven cohort.

“Students’ stress levels about going to school were also reduced after being involved with our program. It is great to see the kids feeling a lot more confident about such a big life change.

“We funded the first 12 months, but the schools were so impressed with the outcomes that they agreed to fund it themselves and make it ongoing.”

The Smith Family now has a Learning for Life co-ordinator based at Eaglehawk Secondary College who runs programs in local primary schools. She provides material support to scholarship families and runs learning clubs, homework groups and after-school activities.

BCHS funds a similar transition scheme with Rotary and Kangaroo Flat schools, and another Smith Family program that uses Bendigo university students to teach and mentor youngsters in after-hours homework clubs and literacy/numeracy groups.

Paul says he gets great satisfaction from the face his role allows him to help multiple children simultaneously.

“Rather than doing it one child at a time, you are working to put systems in place that can make a difference in the lives of a large number of students,” he says.

“I was student counsellor at Bendigo TAFE previously and that was one-on-one all the time in a clinician role; this is a strategic position where you look at large-scale program change.”

Paul worked in administrative services with social security agencies for seven years after leaving school, then studied behavioural science and applied psychology at uni.

He was a Centrelink psychologist and student counsellor before joining BCHS in April 2014.

“Before starting this role, you thought some kids dropped out of school because the adults weren’t parenting well and let their kids not go to school and do whatever they like,” he says.

“But working with BCHS, the Smith Family and other organisations, you realise there are a whole lot of other things going on in the background for these families you are not aware of.”

Originally from Kerang, Paul has a nine-year-old son Seth and a 20-year-old step-daughter Madeleine. His wife Jane died in a road accident last year and he says the care and support he has received from within BCHS has helped him and his family through a very difficult time.

He played football in his youth and now gets great enjoyment from watching Seth run around for St Therese’s under-12s. (Following Richmond in the AFL is not always as much fun.)

“I am a sporting dad,” says the 41-year-old. “You have to be with junior sport these days because everything is run by volunteers. I umpire the football or do time-keeping - one of those match day roles - and I help run training for his team this year.

“I have also recently got back into tennis and play for Axedale. I started filling in this year and our team ended up winning the grand final. I played the four weeks leading up to it but had a housewarming and birthday party in Melbourne so I couldn’t play in the grand final.

“But they won by one game and celebrations were long and loud.”

The State Government has renewed funding for school-focused youth services and Paul is now planning target groups and programs to be offered over the next two years.