* Cultural Warning
People of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent should be aware that the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service website may contain images and names of people who are deceased or images of places that could cause sorrow.
EVENTS CALENDAR
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 |
VAHS AGM 2012
The VAHS annual general meeting will be held on 8th May 2012.
SUBSCRIBE!
Subscribe to our email list to keep informed about community events, employment & placement vacancies, changes to the organisation.
FOLLOW VAHS ON FACEBOOK!
Join the VAHS Facebook group to be kept informed of our activies!
SOCIAL NETWORKS
Tell your friends about VAHS online by clicking on the icons below!
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Full-time positions are currently availabe for:
- Dental Assistant
- Home Visiting Nurse
- Family Partnership Worker
Please refer to the employment section of this site for more information.
MEDICAL
PROGRAMS
HEALTHY FOR LIFE
Healthy for Life is a VAHS program that aims to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers, babies and children. It also aims to improve the quality of life for people with a chronic condition and, over time, reduce the incidence of adult chronic disease.
Shelley Williams commenced as the Healthy for Life worker within the Medical Unit last year. ShelleyÕs main focus in this area is to support clients with or at the risk of developing chronic disease through education, support health assessments and care planning.
Shelley has developed a chronic disease management booklet for clients. The Health Record Diary (HRD) ÒInsert PicÓ as its called, is a chronic disease care plan booklet similar to the ÒAges & StagesÓ booklet (Blue Book) used within the WomanÕs & ChildrenÕs Unit.
The idea is that this booklet will be the clients own personal Òservice bookÓ in relation to their respective chronic health care needs. The HRD will include information about their condition, their appointments with who & when, information, coaching and tips etc as well as professional contacts. This is the clientÕs personal health plan and will be linked with their VAHS patient file.
The initial idea was to slowly introduce this HRD to the community and evaluate it before a general release but such has been the overwhelming interest and support of this HRD, including from other Aboriginal Medical Services, that we are now providing it to clients as needed.
If you want more information about the HRD contact Shelley on (03) 9419 3000, or see your Aboriginal Health Worker, Doctor, the medical reception.
Along with the HRD, Shelley collaborates with her counterpart in the WomanÕs & ChildrenÕs area, Jodie Lovett, to provide outreach health checks with the VAHS caravan, to primary schools in the northern suburbs for Koori students. This has been very successful; with the Healthy for Life team seeing over 150 children and plans are already underway to repeat this program again in 2010.Before a home visit will be made by the medical team they will make an assessment of the reason for the request for a home visit to decide if a home visit is appropriate or more urgent action such as calling an ambulance and going to hospital is required. When a home visit is made by the medical team it will usually involve a doctor and an Aboriginal health worker.