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Our free #5ways to Wellbeing Week campaign cookies prove popular

: Thursday 31 May 2018; Written by Rod

Our own staff might have sneaked a cookie or two!

Well, our aim was to 'connect' with as many people as possible today through the #5ways to Wellbeing campaign.

The response has been amazing. Thank you Bendigo!

Our staff were run off their feet delivering more than 3000 cookies to over 50 businesses and community organisations across the city.

The cookies carried wellbeing messages and encouraged people to take time out to spend some time together.

It's all about raising awareness of the importance of health and wellbeing in daily life and no matter how busy you are taking time out for yourself.

A huge thank you to everyone who took part in our #5ways cookie giveaway.

It's been a huge thrill for us and we hope you enjoyed it too.

Check out some of the great cookie pictures from today

#5ways to Wellbeing Week recap

Have you missed all the action from the #5ways to Wellbeing Week so far. Here's a recap.

: Monday 28 May 2018; Written by Rod

Welcome to our #5ways to Wellbeing Week.

It's our way of reminding the community that wellbeing is about how you are feeling and dealing with daily life.

A refresher that good mental health is essential to living a happy and healthy life.

From today until Friday we’re hosting a different activity each day designed to remind the community why wellbeing is important.

It's time for ...

Day 1: Take Notice

Today we meet six people who spend their days doing great things to make a difference and inspire others.

It's about showing positivity is important and can make a difference to the community.

Leanne Turner

Business owner and mum to four children

Leanne has two children on the autism spectrum.

Frustrated at the lack of toys readily available for children on the spectrum, Leanne decided to do something about it.

The family opened Fidget Kids in February this year.

Passionate about creating awareness of autism and supporting special needs families, Leanne goes out of her way to make sure parents and kids are happy.

Watch a video of Leanne's story here: https://youtu.be/P87wpsREHsY

Lisa Rashleigh

Staff member at Bendigo Health

Lisa is described by the colleagues her nominated her as the sunshine of the Bendigo Health office.

: Friday 25 May 2018; Written by Rod

Victorian AIDS Council representative Martin Gladman, Bendigo Community Health Services nurse and men's health nurse practitioner Peter Strange promote PrEP.

Demand for the ground-breaking HIV prevention medication PrEP in Bendigo is growing.

Our sexual health clinic staff are seeing more consumers seeking the medication in recent weeks.

Men's health nurse practitoner Peter Strange is credentialled to prescribe PrEP.

PrEP was listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in April making the drug more affordable and accessible to Victorians.

Evidence shows that when taken daily PrEP can reduce the risk of HIV transmission by up to 99 per cent.

Together with condoms, frequent and regular sexual health screening and effective treatments for people living with HIV, Victorians have more resources than ever to prevent HIV.

Peter said people could visit the men's health or sexual health clinics to receive the PrEP medication.

"People who visit us for PrEP can expect more than just getting the medication - support and quality care should be much more than that," Peter says.

"It's really important to provide a comprehensive assessment which includes information, advice and options around PrEP and things such as testing for STIs to ensures people remain healthy and have peace of mind.

: Tuesday 22 May 2018; Written by Rod

A group of Afghan teenagers are learning everything they need to know to become confident bike riders thanks to a new Bendigo program.

The bike workshops are being delivered by the Bendigo Community Health Services Settlement Services team in partnership with Bike Bendigo and the City of Greater Bendigo.

Our Settlement Services case worker Salwa Dastgeer said the girls were loving the workshops.

“They are keen to be confident bike riders,” Salwa said.

“The girls are learning how to ride their bike correctly and the laws and rules they must follow to ride safely.

“They are also getting some tips on how to look after their bike.”

The girls enjoyed the workshops and learning about bike education.

"I loved the workshops because it was fun to ride in a group with my friends," Zahra said.

"The bike education was important because we learned so much about bike rules and safety. We can now ride with confidence," Lailuma said.

: Monday 7 May 2018; Written by Rod

Bendigo Community Health Services is calling for community support to create a new hub to help vulnerable and disadvantaged people build life and work skills.

Fork In The Road Bendigo will be designed with facilities and services information to show people using the space there is a road to new opportunity in their life.

Bendigo Community Health Services CEO Kim Sykes said the wonderful generosity of the Andrews Foundation had delivered use of a space beside the Central site at 165-171 Hargreaves Street for three years.

“We are determined to make the most of this fantastic opportunity from the Andrews Foundation but we will need community support to get Fork In The Road established and supporting the vulnerable, disadvantaged, lonely and homeless as we intend,” Ms Sykes said.

WHAT WE NEED: See the full list of things we need to get Fork In The Road up and running at the bottom of this post. Can you help?

“Fork In The Road needs a kitchen and coffee making area so we can provide a safe and respectful space for learning opportunities such as food handling and food preparation skills which we hope then leads to people seeing employment opportunity.

“The hub will also be home to our Thursday Soup Kitchen, a shower and laundry and provide us with an opportunity to run peer support groups in areas such as Alcohol and Other Drugs, our refugee families or youth.

: Friday 4 May 2018; Written by Rod

Bendigo councillor Rod Fyffe OAM made the first donation to the 2018 Bendigo Community Coat Drive with our CEO Kim Sykes and Pristine Dry Cleaners manager Jane Townsend.

City of Greater Bendigo councillor Rod Fyffe OAM has made the first donation to our 2018 Bendigo Community Coat Drive.

Cr Fyffe visited Pristine Dry Cleaners in High Street this week to deliver some coats to manager Jane Townsend and our CEO Kim Sykes.

The 2018 Bendigo Community Coat Drive runs from May 7 to May 26.

Pristine Dry Cleaners will dedicate a machine every day for three weeks to ensure all donated items are cleaned before going to those in need this winter.

WANT TO MAKE A DONATION? See details on where you can drop off coats at the bottom of this post >>>>

We received more than 1700 donations last year and Kim says this is important because there are people in the community who will go cold and hungry this winter.

“There are people in Bendigo living in cars or the streets and houses where there’s no money for heating,” Kim said.

“The Bendigo Community Coat Drive is a great opportunity for the community to help others in need. A coat or blanket makes a huge difference to someone really struggling.

“All the coats we collect will be distributed through our sites.

“We can’t thank Pristine Dry Cleaners enough for their support. The team cleans more than 1700 items in three weeks free of charge which is such a wonderful and generous thing to do for the community.”

: Tuesday 24 April 2018; Written by Rod

The captains from Kyneton, Kangaroo Flat, North Bendigo, Strathfieldsaye Storm and Bendigo Thunder at the season launch.

It’s great to be part of the excitement around the new Central Victorian Football League Women's kicking off on Saturday.

We are sponsoring the new league because AFL Central Victoria supports a focus on health and wellbeing.

Our support of the new football league continues our ongoing commitment to looking after the health of women across the Bendigo region with our Women’s Health Clinic and new Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Hub at our Hargreaves Street site in Bendigo.

AFL Central Victoria has put plenty of work into the new league and it was fantastic to hear the captains from the five teams talking at the official launch last night about how much everyone was looking forward to being part of the historic competition.

It’s clear there’s a lot of new players thrilled to get their chance at playing footy, many being mums and sisters of players from the men’s teams who thought that opportunity would never come.

: Friday 20 April 2018; Written by Rod

Good mental health is essential to living a happy and healthy life.

It’s about how you are feeling and dealing with daily life.

From May 28 to June 1 we’re hosting #5ways to wellbeing - five days of fun activities designed to remind the community why wellbeing is important.

Which one(s) will you take part in?

Day 1: Take Notice

Monday, May 28

We want you to nominate someone making a positive impact on our city! It could be the person who cooks the BBQ at your children’s sport, goes out of their way to make the office happy or a neighbour who brings your bin in (when you forget). We’ll choose five winners to show #5ways people do something positive to make their community better. Oh, yes, each winner gets a great prize thanks to our brilliant sponsors in Hume and Iser Bendigo, Intersport Bicknells and Old Green Bean. So, who are you nominating?

Download your #5ways nomination form here: pdf #5ways Take Notice nomination form (561 KB)

Day 2: Give

Tuesday, May 29

: Wednesday 4 April 2018; Written by Rod

Dr Liliapin Efendy welcomes Dr Ridmi Ranasinghe to BCHS.

We’re excited to welcome Dr Ridmi Ranasinghe to our medical practice at Eaglehawk.

Dr Ridmi is the fifth new doctor to join BCHS in 2018 and opens her appointment book to families and individuals.

On the first day of the new school term we will make that six new doctors for the year with a GP joining our rapidly expanding GPs in Schools program.

In more good news for our medical practice, Dr Jaskarandip Singh has stayed on to work full-time with us after completing his medical registrar training.

To see new GPs coming to Bendigo to work is great for the city especially in a time where there is so much talk and concern about doctor shortages in rural areas.

We continue to build our bulk billing medical practice with the belief we can deliver better care to those most in need in our community.

To book an appointment at our medical practice call 5448 1600

: Wednesday 28 March 2018; Written by Rod

Dreaded flu .. we're coming for you.

Our community health nurses are on the road as our campaign to help businesses around Bendigo ward off the dreaded flu gets underway.

First stop was the great crew at Fosterville Gold Mine who bravely fronted up one by one to get a flu injection. Well done all!

In coming weeks the nurses will be kept busy visiting businesses to administer flu shots for staff.

We have reviewed our Workplace Flu Vaccination Program to ensure we can get to as many businesses as possible this year so if you would like to protect your staff please call Brooke on 5434 4377 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to get more information or make a booking.

Our GPs at Eaglehawk and Central Bendigo are ready to go to provide flu shots for families and individuals too.

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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.