Page 4 - Health Services Directory 2023

Gathering of Kindness

Tom Parry y y play Do You Know Me? Which
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examines “the good, the bad and the
MPLOYEES at Central ugly” of aged care.
Gippsland Health have “It’s based on true stories from
reaped the benefits of a families, residents, (and) people who
EGathering of Kindness. work in aged care,” Dr Crock said of
The initiative saw a day’s worth of the play.
activities conducted at Sale Hospital “We portray some pretty challeng-
on November 11 last year, with the ing scenarios of elder abuse and
aim of encouraging a more positive staff who are really burnt out and not
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environment for staff and patients. enjoying their job.
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Multiple guest speakers and “And then, we have the absolute joy
dignitaries facilitated the activities, of an aged care facility where people
among them Hush Foundation chair are feeling cared for - they’ve got Dr Catherine Crock AM, Lucy Mayes, Jodi Millard, Katrina Hall, Vivian Foulke
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Dr Catherine Crock AM. animals coming in to be part of it, use and Sharee Johnson at Sale Hospital for the Gathering of Kindness.
Dr Crock said the day was about nature and all sorts of other ways to
helping people to bridge them inspire the residents.”
towards kindness to colleagues, “So really, it’s the ups and downs.”
noting that there were some “struc- The play and many of the day’s New r e sources for
tural unkindnesses” in healthcare: other activities were live-streamed
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“even if I’m kind to my team, we may for CGH staff in Maffra and Heyfield,
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be in a system where the HR or the allowing them to participate remotely. people wit d ementia
payroll or the rostering is unkind to us, Participants in Sale were encour-
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and it makes it very difficult on a daily
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basis to then put out the kindness aged to contribute to a collaborative EW resources addition to th s upports that
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yourself.” artwork, and purchase books from the designed to support people, diagnosed wit d ementia,
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“And of course, at the end of the day’s various speakers. people who have can access, M rs Jaco s aid.
day, it’s the patients and families who By utilising the arts as a way to Nbeen diagnosed with “Receiving a diagnosis of d e men-
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then will suffer from… feeling a lack of tell other people’s stories, the Hush dementia hav b een released tia can be an extremely challenging
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care or kindness,” Dr Crock added. Foundation hopes to encourage by Gippsland Primary Health and overwhelming experienc f or
The Gathering of Kindness initiative people to “communicate a little bit Network. anyone, so having access to good
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was created by the Hush Foundation differently”. Create a s p ar o f a c ollaboration quality information and resources
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in 2015 to build, nurture and instil a “What I really enjoy is inspiring other betwee fi ve Victoria P rimary in an easy-to-understand format is
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culture of kindness throughout the people and getting them engaged Health Networks (PHNs) - really important.”
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healthcare system. to think differently, and instead of Gippsland, Western Victoria N orth The resources includ a b rochure
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Central Gippsland Health has feeling downtrodden in their work or Western Melbourne, Eastern - D ementia: Resources an s upport
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partnered with the initiative for the not enjoying their work, to bring back Melbourne an M urray - a nd the to help you liv w ell - f or people
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past five years. some of the joy in a creative way,” Dr T a smanian PHN, the resources who ar i n t he process of being
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The day began with a workshop Crock said. wer f unded by the federal diagnose w it d ementia and their
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from author Milton Knopp, who The Gathering of Kindness will government and detai i nformation families or carers. Th b rochure
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conducted a writing activity for return to Sale Hospital in November an s upports available in local is designe f or people who may
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participants to build reflectiveness of this year. communities for people livin w ith be experiencing some cognitive
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and mindfulness. More information about the dementia, their carers an f amilies. decline. It outlines the process of
Following a lunch break, attendees initiative can be found at www. Gippsland PHN acting chief getting a d ementia diagnosi a nd
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then viewed a performance of the gatheringofkindness.org executive, Angela Jacob, said includes suggestions for important
the resources wer d eveloped as questions to ask your GP.
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part of the federal government’s The brochur a ls h as
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response to th R oyal Commission
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into Aged Car Q ualit a nd Safety. information about other dementia
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supports and resources, including
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Mrs Jacob sai t her w as
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estimated to be nearly hal a m illion link t o a l ocal Dementi D irectory
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Australians who wer l iving with on th G ippsland PHN website.
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dementia, while aroun 1 .6 million As part of the PHN collaboration,
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Australians wer i nvolved in the new resources to support
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car o f s omeon w ith dementia. health professionals have also
A P riority Issue P aper on been created. A n ew workforce
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dementia, released last year by dementi t raining program called
Gippsland PHN, revealed more Demystifying Dementia, has
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than 7488 people in Gippsland been develope i n c onjunction
had dementia, with this number with Dementia Training Australia,
expected to increase to 13,783 by with the program designed and
2058. An estimated 438 people facilitated by GPs for GPs, GP
experienced younger onset registrars, practice nurses, nurse
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dementia (under 65 years). practitioners an o ther health
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The paper named dementi a s professionals.
the second cause of death among The downloadable version
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female i n G ippsland an t he sixth of th b rochur a nd the
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cause of death among males. localise G ippsland PHN Dementia
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“As more Australians liv l onger, Directory ca b e f ound at: https://
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these numbers ar e xpected to gphn.org.au/what-we-do/
Lucy Mayes, Sharee Johnson, Dr Catherine Crock AM and Milton Knopp increase significantly w hich is why programs/programs-aged-care/
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promoting their books at the Gathering of Kindness. Photos: Tom Parry y y
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these resources ar a v aluable dementia-or-cognitive-decline/
PAGE 4 - Wellington Health Services Directory 2023
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