Program
A PDF version of the program is now available here:
Keynote speakers
Lara Fuller
Associate Professor Lara Fuller, MBBS (Hons), FRACGP, GCME, AMusA, is Director of Rural Medical Education and the Rural Community Clinical School at Deakin University, Victoria. As an academic general practitioner, her teaching and research interests are in curriculum design for rural medical education, learning in longitudinal integrated clerkships, rural clinical training pathways and rural workforce outcomes. She is an active member of the Federation of Rural Australian Medical Educators (AusFRAME) and the International Consortium of Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (CLIC).
Portland District Health services a community of almost 20,000 people. Compared to the rest of Victoria, Portland has greater socioeconomic disadvantage, a higher proportion of people of Indigenous status, and higher rates of hypertension, smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity and psychological distress.
The hospital has 69 registered inpatient beds with a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week Urgent Care Centre (UCC). The UCC is deemed one of the busiest in Victoria, per population.
On 14 June 2018, Professor Paul Worley, the then National Rural Health Commissioner, visited Portland. Portland’s shortage of general practitioners (now critical) was a familiar issue confronting him.
As a result of this visit, Portland decided to ‘grow its own’ rural workforce using the already existing infrastructure, beginning with longitudinal medical student training and ending with advanced skills training posts, eventually producing rural generalist general practitioners to meet the needs of the community.
With the hospital adversely affected, with limited access to International Medical Graduate Hospital Medical Officers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing was opportune.
The outcome of this process is an innovative and collaborative rural generalist pathway with the achieved steps as follows:
- Novel longitudinal internship program. In 2021, interns commenced working for six months in ‘medicine’ and six months in ‘surgery’, but each week begins with a day in the UCC and finishes with a day in general practice. The intern may see a patient in UCC with a FACEM on Monday, follow up care in the general ward Tuesday to Thursday with a physician or surgeon and review or admit patients in general practice with their GP supervisor on Friday.
- PMCV accreditation for a Rural Generalist Year 2 stream. The program comprises a six-month blended community paediatric and obstetric experience, with placements within the hospital, general practice and Aboriginal Medical Service, followed by six months in UCC with support to enrol in ACEM Emergency Certificate and Anaesthetic experience in a JCCA-approved training position.
- Advanced skills training posts in anaesthetics and paediatrics accredited and in emergency currently under development. Partnerships established with Barwon Health and Western Health and South West Healthcare.
- The development of posts that facilitate rural generalist consolidation for each of the above disciplines
The significant beneficiaries of this integrated approach to rural generalist pathways will be the Portland community.
Margaret Garde
In 1985 Margaret Garde arrived in Portland, Victoria, to join her partner, now husband. Being the only female GP, and the youngest by at least 10 years, brought with it a sense of professional isolation.
The disciplines in which she worked included family planning, occupational health, Aboriginal health, public health, forensic medicine, adolescent health and mental health. Now she has a strong interest in teaching and supporting students and doctors who wish to live and work in a rural location, with a strong emphasis on giving them the preparation they need to feel confident and secure.
Thus followed the hosting of a string of medical students, John Flynn Scholars, and cousins, children of friends or anyone else who was remotely interested in medicine as a career.
As is now well recognised, none of these wonderful people returned to Portland to work.
In 2012 the opportunity to work in Portland’s GP SuperClinic presented and, together with this, the ability to host Deakin University students from a rural background who reside in Portland for their 12-month placement.
This, together with a visit from Paul Worley, the then National Rural Health Commissioner, provided the inspiration for our longitudinal rural vocational experience.
Portland District Health services a community of almost 20,000 people. Compared to the rest of Victoria, Portland has greater socioeconomic disadvantage, a higher proportion of people of Indigenous status, and higher rates of hypertension, smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity and psychological distress.
The hospital has 69 registered inpatient beds with a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week Urgent Care Centre (UCC). The UCC is deemed one of the busiest in Victoria, per population.
On 14 June 2018, Professor Paul Worley, the then National Rural Health Commissioner, visited Portland. Portland’s shortage of general practitioners (now critical) was a familiar issue confronting him.
As a result of this visit, Portland decided to ‘grow its own’ rural workforce using the already existing infrastructure, beginning with longitudinal medical student training and ending with advanced skills training posts, eventually producing rural generalist general practitioners to meet the needs of the community.
With the hospital adversely affected, with limited access to International Medical Graduate Hospital Medical Officers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing was opportune.
The outcome of this process is an innovative and collaborative rural generalist pathway with the achieved steps as follows:
- Novel longitudinal internship program. In 2021, interns commenced working for six months in ‘medicine’ and six months in ‘surgery’, but each week begins with a day in the UCC and finishes with a day in general practice. The intern may see a patient in UCC with a FACEM on Monday, follow up care in the general ward Tuesday to Thursday with a physician or surgeon and review or admit patients in general practice with their GP supervisor on Friday.
- PMCV accreditation for a Rural Generalist Year 2 stream. The program comprises a six-month blended community paediatric and obstetric experience, with placements within the hospital, general practice and Aboriginal Medical Service, followed by six months in UCC with support to enrol in ACEM Emergency Certificate and Anaesthetic experience in a JCCA-approved training position.
- Advanced skills training posts in anaesthetics and paediatrics accredited and in emergency currently under development. Partnerships established with Barwon Health and Western Health and South West Healthcare.
- The development of posts that facilitate rural generalist consolidation for each of the above disciplines
The significant beneficiaries of this integrated approach to rural generalist pathways will be the Portland community.
Christine Giles
Chris Giles is a senior executive with considerable experience leading and managing regional, rural and remote health services.
Chris has a strong clinical background as a nurse then midwife, which has proven very valuable in her recent executive roles. These executive roles include working in healthcare organisations in Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland.
Most recently, Chris has worked as the Chief Executive Officer of Portland District Health in south-west Victoria. Prior to this she spent three years living in the Torres Strait, working as a District CEO for Queensland Health.
Chris has a passion for finding solutions to wicked problems, often challenging the normal by finding innovative solutions to improve health service access and quality for rural and remote communities. Some of these solutions include extending scope of practice for clinicians, training cohorts of nurse practitioners and using technology such videoconferencing and electronic health records to overcome distance.
As a sideline, Chris is on the Board of the local catchment management authority, keen to ensure land and water resources are managed to ensure future generations can enjoy them as we do.
Portland District Health services a community of almost 20,000 people. Compared to the rest of Victoria, Portland has greater socioeconomic disadvantage, a higher proportion of people of Indigenous status, and higher rates of hypertension, smoking, alcohol consumption, obesity and psychological distress.
The hospital has 69 registered inpatient beds with a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week Urgent Care Centre (UCC). The UCC is deemed one of the busiest in Victoria, per population.
On 14 June 2018, Professor Paul Worley, the then National Rural Health Commissioner, visited Portland. Portland’s shortage of general practitioners (now critical) was a familiar issue confronting him.
As a result of this visit, Portland decided to ‘grow its own’ rural workforce using the already existing infrastructure, beginning with longitudinal medical student training and ending with advanced skills training posts, eventually producing rural generalist general practitioners to meet the needs of the community.
With the hospital adversely affected, with limited access to International Medical Graduate Hospital Medical Officers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing was opportune.
The outcome of this process is an innovative and collaborative rural generalist pathway with the achieved steps as follows:
- Novel longitudinal internship program. In 2021, interns commenced working for six months in ‘medicine’ and six months in ‘surgery’, but each week begins with a day in the UCC and finishes with a day in general practice. The intern may see a patient in UCC with a FACEM on Monday, follow up care in the general ward Tuesday to Thursday with a physician or surgeon and review or admit patients in general practice with their GP supervisor on Friday.
- PMCV accreditation for a Rural Generalist Year 2 stream. The program comprises a six-month blended community paediatric and obstetric experience, with placements within the hospital, general practice and Aboriginal Medical Service, followed by six months in UCC with support to enrol in ACEM Emergency Certificate and Anaesthetic experience in a JCCA-approved training position.
- Advanced skills training posts in anaesthetics and paediatrics accredited and in emergency currently under development. Partnerships established with Barwon Health and Western Health and South West Healthcare.
- The development of posts that facilitate rural generalist consolidation for each of the above disciplines
The significant beneficiaries of this integrated approach to rural generalist pathways will be the Portland community.
Stan Grant
Stan Grant is the International Affairs Editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), a multi-award-winning current affairs host, an author and an adventurer.
Well known for having brought the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to tears when interviewed about Indigenous affairs on The Point, Stan’s keynotes are insightful, engaging, always professional and, at times, controversial.
Stan’s Aboriginal heritage has shaped his dynamic, resilient personality. Born in Griffith in south-west New South Wales (NSW) in 1963, Stan Grant’s mother is from the Kamilaroi people and his father is of the Wiradjuri.
Stan spent most of his childhood on the road living in small towns and Aboriginal communities across outback NSW. His father was an itinerant saw-miller who worked when and where he could. Stan moved so often he attended 12 different schools before he was in his teens.
The early travelling gave Stan a love of adventure and stories. He grew up listening to the tales of his grandfather and uncles and aunts. Despite poverty and an early sporadic education, the security of his family and the larger Aboriginal community gave him a strong platform for life.
After attending university, Stan won a cadetship with the Macquarie Radio Network, launching a career in journalism that has spanned more than 30 years and more than 70 countries. In that time Stan has travelled the world covering the major stories of our time from the release of Nelson Mandela, the troubles in Northern Ireland, the death of Princess Diana, war in Iraq, the second Palestinian intifada, the war on terror, the South Asia tsunami, the Pakistan earthquake and the rise of China.
Stan has hosted major news and current affairs programs on Australian commercial and public television. He has been a political correspondent for the ABC, a Europe correspondent for the Seven Network based in London and a senior international correspondent for the international broadcaster CNN based in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Returning to Australia in 2013, Stan continued to cover international events for Sky News Australia and reignited his passion for telling the stories of his own Indigenous people. He has worked as the Indigenous editor for The Guardian Australia, managing editor for National Indigenous Television and international editor for Sky News. In 2016 Stan was appointed as special adviser to the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Indigenous constitutional recognition.
Stan has won many major awards including an Australian TV Logie, a Columbia University Du-Pont Award (the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) and the prestigious United States Peabody Award. He is a four-time winner of the highly prized Asia TV Awards including reporter of the year.
Stan has written The Tears of Strangers and Talking To My Country (Harper Collins), and has published numerous articles and opinion pieces for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.
Stan Grant is passionate about justice and humanity. His years of international reporting have given him a deep understanding of how the world works. He is deeply immersed in the politics and history of Asia and the Middle East. He can link the importance of leadership and the impact of history and, above all, believes in the power and resilience of people.
Stan is married to ABC Sports broadcaster, Tracey Holmes, and has four children. He lives in Sydney.
Booked through: Celebrity Speakers www.celebrityspeakers.com.au
Mark Howden
Professor Mark Howden is Director of the Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions at The Australian National University.
He is also an Honorary Professor at Melbourne University, a Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Chair of the ACT Climate Change Council. He was on the US Federal Advisory Committee for the Third National Climate Assessment, was a member of the Australian National Climate Science Advisory Committee and contributes to several major national and international science and policy advisory bodies.
Mark has worked on climate variability, climate change, innovation and adoption issues for over 30 years, in partnership with many industry, community and policy groups via both research and science-policy roles. Issues he has addressed include agriculture and food security, the natural resource base, ecosystems and biodiversity, energy, water and urban systems.
Mark has over 420 publications of different types. He helped develop both the national and international greenhouse gas inventories that are a fundamental part of the Paris Agreement and has assessed sustainable ways to reduce emissions. He has been a major contributor to the IPCC since 1991, with roles in the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and now Sixth Assessment Reports, sharing the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with other IPCC participants and Al Gore.
Gabrielle O'Kane
Gabrielle O’Kane is Chief Executive Officer of the National Rural Health Alliance, the peak body for rural health in Australia. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the University of Canberra and Charles Sturt University. Gabrielle has extensive experience in the private and public health sector, which has contributed to her deep understanding of the need for collaborative partnerships to support the rural health workforce and achieve positive health outcomes for rural communities. She promotes solutions to the Australian Government to address the needs of rural communities and health professionals, through her position on many pertinent steering groups and committees.
Roland Sapsford
The Climate and Health Alliance’s new Chief Executive Officer, Roland Sapsford, has been working to respond to the challenge of climate change and the task of reducing emissions through public policy and activism for much of his professional life.
This work has ranged from being involved in New Zealand’s first study of the impacts of carbon taxes and work on energy efficiency and home insulation policy, through to getting solar panels installed on a local community centre and campaigning against major road projects.
Roland once completed four years of a medical degree and was a senior manager in public health for five years. He has also studied economics and systems ecology to postgraduate level, and has a strong commitment to Indigenous rights.
Rabia Siddique
Rabia Siddique is a history-making humanitarian, best-selling author and multi-award-winning international keynote speaker. She is a sought after transformational coach and mentor and speaks English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Current work
Rabia’s powerful and engaging presentations on leadership, resilience, equality and diversity draw on her personal story of strength, courage and forgiveness, in addition to her legal, military and psychology training. Surviving a hostage crisis in Iraq, Rabia garnered global attention for making the British military accountable for silencing her about her ordeal and role as a military lawyer in releasing captured Special Forces soldiers. Standing up for justice in the face of public ridicule, Rabia’s brave action in suing the British Government for sexism and racism became a catalyst for policy change to ensure a fairer workplace for women and cultural minorities in the British military.
Rabia is an expert commentator, regularly appearing in newspapers and magazines, and on television, radio and online media in Australia and around the globe, including The Guardian, 60 Minutes and ABC television.
With her best-selling memoir Equal Justice also the focus of a feature film, she is now writing her second book.
Rabia is an Ambassador for 100 Women, Angelhands, Esther Foundation, Inner Ninja (mental health support) and Ishar (multicultural health service). She is a Board Member of the International Foundation of Non-Violence, Museum of Freedom and Tolerance, Wesley College and Calan Williams Racing.
Previous experience
Law: Rabia’s extensive career as a criminal, terrorism, war crimes and human rights lawyer has taken her to Europe, the Middle East, South America, South East Asia and Australia.
Military: Her military career includes serving as a British Army officer in England, Northern Ireland and the Middle East. Rabia was one of England’s first Armed Forces Employment Law Officers – a role which took her to Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where she ran equality and diversity training. Among her charges was Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge.
Keith Suter
Dr Keith Suter is considered one of Australia’s most influential global futurists and media commentators in national and foreign affairs. He has also held many strategic leadership roles. Dr Suter is an experienced, professional and awarded presenter renowned for explaining complex global and business issues in a way his audiences can digest and understand. He is in demand as an MC and conference facilitator. Keith’s tailored keynotes, workshops and facilitated sessions are entertaining, highly compelling and always captivating.
In 2019 Keith was proudly appointed as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division), for significant service to international relations and to the Uniting Church in Australia.
Previous experience
Academic expert: Dr Keith Suter has achieved three doctorates. The first of these was about the international law of guerrilla warfare (University of Sydney), the second about the social and economic consequences of the arms race (Deakin University) and a third doctorate on scenario planning (University of Sydney).
Leadership roles: He has been appointed to many prestigious roles throughout his career, including Chairperson of the International Commission of Jurists (NSW), Director of Studies at the International Law Association (Australian Branch) and Managing Director of the Global Directions think tank. After 25 years, Keith recently retired from the role of Chairperson of the International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Australian Red Cross (NSW).
Global recognition: He has also been a member of the prestigious Club of Rome since 1993. The Club is ‘an informal association of independent leading personalities from politics, business and science, men and women who are long-term thinkers interested in contributing in a systemic, interdisciplinary and holistic manner to a better world. The Club of Rome members share a common concern for the future of humanity and the planet.’ The club has only 100 members, with Mikhail Gorbachev among them.
Keith is a Life Member of the United Nations Association of Australia in recognition of his service. At various times from 1978 to 1999, he served as the National President of the organisation and took on the roles of WA and NSW State President.
Strategic roles: Keith was the President of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (1991–98) at the University of Sydney, and was a consultant on social policy with the Wesley Mission for 17 years. In addition, he served as a consultant for a number of other organisations with a focus on local and international issues. He is also an active member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Media roles: He frequently appears on radio and television discussing politics and international affairs. He has been, for many years, the foreign affairs editor on Channel 7’s Sunrise program.
Renowned author: Among Keith’s many books are All about Terrorism: Everything you were afraid to ask, as well as Global Order and Global Disorder: Globalization and the Nation-State and 50 Things You Want to Know About World Issues … But Were Too Afraid to Ask.
Susan Wearne
Susan Wearne is a general practitioner (GP) and senior adviser to the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care regarding rural health and health professional education. She trained at Southampton University in England and completed general practice training in Northamptonshire and back home in Cheshire. She owned a practice in York, England, and worked at the Aboriginal Medical Service in Alice Springs and for the Royal Flying Doctor Service at Ayers Rock Medical Centre. She has extra qualifications in child health, women’s health, family planning, primary health care and medical education and now works as a GP in Canberra.
Susan is a Clinical Associate Professor at Australian National University and has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles on general practice and medical education. The fourth edition of her textbook Clinical Cases for General Practice Exams was published in 2019. She held educational leadership positions in the Northern Territory before taking on national roles for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and General Practice Education and Training. She works in the Health Workforce Division which manages general practice training and other programs that promote Australians’ access to qualified health professionals. She was medical lead for the soon to be released Australian National Medical Workforce Strategy.
Susan’s husband, Tim Henderson, is the eye surgeon at Alice Springs Hospital. Their daughter and her family live in England and their son works in Adelaide. Between flights home to Alice, Susan swims, makes clothes and enjoys the scenery on the lake as she learns to row.
Justin Yeung
Justin is a consultant emergency physician by training. He has had a number of leadership positions in WA Health – director roles in emergency medicine (Royal Perth Hospital, Albany Health Campus and WA Country Health Service) and medical services (Great Southern region of Western Australia). He is currently Medical Director of the WA Country Health Service Command Centre, which incorporates a number of 24/7 clinical streams in acute telehealth – emergency, inpatient medicine, mental health, obstetrics and midwifery, palliative care and acute patient transfer coordination. Justin splits his time between Perth and Albany, and still maintains clinical exposure working in the Emergency Telehealth Service and locums in regional Western Australia. To add some spice to the year, Justin has started postgraduate studies in health care leadership. He’s also an oft-stung beekeeper.
From humble beginnings as a limited-hours, weekend-only, single-doctor emergency consultation service for a handful of small country hospitals in Western Australia (WA), the WA Country Health Service Command Centre is approaching a 10-year milestone of providing specialist-led clinical consultation directly to rural patients using video-enabled technology. The Emergency Telehealth Service (ETS) has grown into a 24/7 virtual emergency department, managing more than 27,000 consultations in 2021. The range of clinical services available to support our regional clinicians using telehealth has expanded to include inpatient care (2018) and mental health (2019), obstetric and midwifery, palliative care and, most recently, transfer coordination (all commenced in 2022). We will present an overview of our 10-year journey, highlight areas of innovation and success, as well as outline challenges we have and continue to face.
Plenary sessions
Opening Session:
Julieanne Gilbert MP
Assistant Minister for Health and Regional Health Infrastructure, Queensland – Welcome to Brisbane
Emma McBride MP
Federal Member for Dobell, Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health
Plenary Session 1:
Russell Roberts
Australian Journal of Rural Health
Editor in Chief 2017–21 – AJRH 30 Years
Jason Waterford
HESTA Australia Ltd
Plenary Session 4:
Helen Haines MP
Independent Federal Member for Indi
Closing remarks:
Stephen Gourley
Deputy Chair, National Rural Health Alliance
Concurrent presenters
Kirstie Faulkner
Kirstie Faulkner is an advanced allied health practitioner in rehabilitation and geriatrics in Central Queensland. She is a physiotherapist with experience in private and public sectors in Australia and overseas, and was recently project officer for the Transition to Sub-Acute (T2SA) project aimed at providing seamless, coordinated transitions of care for sub-acute patients back to their rural or remote communities. She is currently completing studies to obtain a Graduate Certificate in Clinical Redesign.
Moving sub-acute care ‘closer to home’ for rural consumers
Introduction: The challenges of delivering effective and sustainable sub-acute care services in rural and remote areas include access to allied health services that can meet the needs of clients and provide the service frequency required for a therapeutic rehabilitation intervention.
Aims: The Transition to Sub-Acute (T2SA) project aimed to use an interagency approach to provide seamless and effective allied health sub-acute services and expedite care closer to home. The initiative included formation of an overarching collaborative of service providers and stakeholders in central and northern Queensland and sub-groups along patient flow lines, coordinated planning and facilitation of transfer/discharge for rural clients admitted to regional hospitals, and rehabilitation capacity building and redesign of allied health service delivery models.
Methods: Evaluation of service impacts, as part of a broader evaluation strategy, included a retrospective chart audit of clients admitted from a rural/remote area to a regional hospital with stroke or fractured neck of femur (NOF) before and after implementation of the T2SA, to examine length of stay (LOS) and functional independence measure (FIM) scores.
Additionally, cost utility was evaluated using a costing tool consisting of a quality-of-life measure, patient-reported experience, and direct and indirect costs to individuals and their families/carers in terms of time associated with hospital LOS, travel time and cost.
Results: Rural facility LOS changed from 1–2 days (4% total inpatient LOS) to 11.7 days (44% total inpatient stay). The number of completed FIM scores was inadequate to analyse/report.
The sample size for estimating the cost to rural hospitals was underpowered, however results demonstrated that out-of-pocket costs to families and carers visiting regional hospitals were substantially greater compared to visiting rural hospitals.
A range of factors impacted on the timely transfer of clients to rural facilities where allied health teams had capacity to continue rehabilitation including:
- delays in repatriation due to transport availability or bed capacity in rural facilities
- allied health staffing stability and realities of small establishments
- variation in broader multidisciplinary team capacity and capability to support rehabilitation care in rural/remote facilities.
Conclusions: Improved interagency, rural–regional allied health collaborative care and coordination can facilitate earlier repatriation of clients and service capacity ‘closer to home’ for rural/remote clients. Providing care closer to home is advantageous not only for patients and their families, but also ensures that health services have the capacity to meet the emerging needs of rural communities.
Ulrike Fehlberg
Ulrike Fehlberg is a fourth-year research student in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery program at James Cook University in Queensland. Growing up in the small rural town of Yungaburra, and her previous voluntary work with the Rural Health in the Northern Outback (RHINO) student club, has made Ulrike passionate and committed to making a difference as a dentist in rural and remote communities.
Growing the rural dental workforce: JCU graduates’ barriers and enablers to rural practice
Background: The Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) at James Cook University (JCU) is a socially accountable program designed to address the population health needs and current workforce shortages of regional, rural and remote communities, with a particular focus on underserved communities in tropical Australia. As one of only three dental schools in Australia located outside a capital city and the only dental school in northern Australia, a rural, remote and Indigenous health focus is embedded across the curriculum. The JCU program is designed to grow fit-for-purpose graduates who can meet the needs of these communities and contribute to addressing the maldistribution of the dental workforce, including into public over private practice.
Analysis of BDS exit surveys from 2013 to 2021 shows 70 per cent of JCU dental graduates intend to practise rurally. This study quantitatively investigates trends in graduates’ employment (rurality of practice, choice of public or private practice) since graduation, and qualitatively explores key enablers and barriers to rural and public health system careers.
Methods: An explanatory mixed-methods study undertaken by a team of three BDS faculty and six fourth-year students. The study involves an initial survey of JCU BDS graduates (2013 to 2020), followed by qualitative interviews with a sample of graduates who consented to share further information about their career choices in the survey. The survey will investigate changes in practice rurality and private versus public practice since graduation. Rurality of practice will be defined according to the Modified Monash Model.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted using a purposive sample of graduates who agreed to participate in further studies. Significant trends in the survey will guide the purposive sampling. The interviews will enrich the survey data by exploring the factors influencing graduates’ career choices and changes, with a focus on identifying enablers and barriers to rural and public health system practice. Interviews will be digitally recorded, manually transcribed and analysed thematically following a flexible, interpretive approach based on Braun and Clarke’s six-step process.
Results: The graduate survey was conducted in December 2021, with 110 graduates out of a possible 395 (response rate = 28 per cent) providing the location, type (public or private) and duration of all employments since time of graduation. Preliminary findings indicate 59 per cent of JCU dental graduates are currently practising outside of metropolitan areas, with more detailed analysis of their career employment choices with respect to rurality of practice and private versus public practice currently being in progress. Qualitative investigation of the personal enablers and barriers to rural practice and public system practice will be undertaken in the coming months.
Conclusion/recommendations: This poster reports early evidence on the career choices and outcomes of the first eight cohorts of JCU BDS graduates since graduation. Preliminary findings suggest that the early career outcomes and choices of JCU dental graduates are aligned with the workforce needs of the region. These findings have the potential to inform strategies to address the maldistribution of dentists towards metropolitan and private practice through curriculum redesign and greater retention of graduate dentists in rural and public practice.
Erin Ferguson
Ms Erin Ferguson is the Paediatric Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) Clinical Nurse Consultant based at Cairns Hospital. She is employed under the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander RHD Action Plan. She works in collaboration with the paediatric cardiologist, providing care coordination and education for families as inpatients, outpatients and on outreach.
Erin has been fundamental in establishing new models of care including an RHD transition clinic (from paediatric to adult cardiology). A multidisciplinary RHD clinic to provide multiple services at one appointment has also been commenced. This includes cardiology review, education, dental review and access to sexual health advice.
She runs the ‘Happy Heart Clinic’. This is a nurse-led clinic working with children who have had previous traumatic experiences with their LA Bicillin injections. These children require extensive support and therapeutic strategies to re-engage them and to ensure ongoing adherence to their injections.
Her goal is to ensure that every child with acute rheumatic fever or RHD receives the same level of care coordination regardless of their geographical location.
Collaborative care in rheumatic heart disease
A new model of care has been established to implement changes for children in the Cairns and Hinterland region, the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula area, and Cape York communities who have acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Far North Queensland has one of the highest rates of RHD in Australia. These diseases are entirely preventable and almost exclusively affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They are diseases linked to poverty and overcrowded housing and have been eradicated in most other first world countries. These diseases lead to poor health outcomes including stroke, heart failure and premature death.
It was identified that care models needed to be adaptable to provide culturally appropriate, family centred care. We have created novel clinics specifically focusing on the needs of these children and their families. The focus of these clinics has been to increase access to care, partnering with consumers and prioritising children’s agency. We also strive to incorporate respect for children and families, including their culture in all of our service delivery.
A transition clinic for adolescent patients with ARF/RHD was established in July 2020. This clinic aims to reduce the number of children who become lost to follow up when discharged from paediatric cardiology. At their clinic appointment the paediatric cardiologist ‘hands over’ care to the adult cardiologist. A care plan for ongoing care in adult services is developed. The adult and paediatric RHD clinical nurse consultants assess the patients’ understanding of their condition and ensure that they are adequately prepared to take the necessary responsibility to transition to adult services.
A collaborative RHD clinic has also been developed. The premise is to provide a collaborative clinic so that clients can access a range of services at one clinic appointment. They see the paediatric cardiologist, receive education from the paediatric RHD nurse, have a dental check and have access to sexual health advice.
The ‘Happy Heart Clinic’ was created for children who have experienced difficulty in getting their monthly LA Bicillin injection. These injections provide secondary prophylaxis to prevent further ARF episodes. This medication is the best defence we have to prevent disease progression. The injections are painful and, if not given therapeutically, have been shown to cause trauma and lack of adherence. A child-friendly model was developed using a ‘game plan’ and implementing appropriate pain management strategies and distraction techniques.
Patricia Field
Pat is a nurse and public health professional with experience in hospital-based clinical/management roles and remote area health in Alice Springs, with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services. She has also worked in health service support and capacity-building roles in the Pacific. Pat is outcome focused and experienced in community development, capacity building, qualitative research and project management in diverse environments.
Pat’s interest in improving access to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) for people living in rural and remote (R&R) areas of Australia began when she worked for the Heart Foundation, focusing on heart disease in R&R areas and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Pat is completing a PhD with James Cook University. This work aims to improve access to CR for all people living in R&R areas of north Queensland. Her most recent work is the community-based study that is the final component of research which focuses on the health care and support received when people return home to R&R areas following hospital treatment for heart disease. This research, combined with the previous studies, will lead to the development of innovative models to improve access to CR in R&R areas of Australia.
Heart: Road to Health in rural and remote areas of Australia
Aim: To investigate factors that impacted on access to cardiac rehabilitation (CR) and to develop systems and model(s) to improve provision and access to CR in rural and remote (R&R) areas.
Methods: Qualitative case series using multiple data sources and semi-structured interview data collection, that explores staff, potential CR participants’ and community leaders’ CR understanding and involvement in a range of environments including tertiary hospitals and communities in R&R areas of north Queensland.
Relevance: CR is recommended as post-hospitalisation best practice for all people with heart disease (HD), apart from those needing palliative care. Holistic, multidisciplinary CR reduces mortality, reoccurrence of HD, hospital readmissions and costs, and improves quality of life. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people have a greater need for CR due to higher rates of HD, especially in R&R areas. Despite demonstrated benefits, CR referral rates remain low (45 per cent), with few centre-based services and poor uptake of home-based services in R&R areas.
Results: Primary healthcare providers were available in all focus communities, predominantly led by nurses and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers (ATSIHW). Multipurpose health services either had doctors on staff or on call. Primary healthcare centres were supported by doctors who visited two to three days each week. All centres had intermittent visits and telehealth consultation from medical specialists. Allied health professionals (AHP) were either available in the community or on a visiting basis.
Referral pathways and case management were fragmented, with inadequate healthcare systems, low staff and potential CR participants’ understanding, and/or access to CR. Barriers included limited centre-based CR, low referrals, lack of knowledge or acceptance of home-based CR. Further, little guidance was provided by medical discharge summaries that were often delayed, clinically focused and rarely mentioned CR. Subsequent post-hospitalisation care was predominantly clinical via general practice and primary healthcare centres, with no referrals to AHP for HD, holistic lifestyle and risk factor management.
Conclusion: There is a serious deficit in access to CR in R&R areas of Australia. Healthcare systems, in provision and access to CR from hospitalisation to post-discharge holistic care, are weak. To address this a patient-centred, coordinated, holistic, multidisciplinary model of care (Heart: Road to Health) has been developed that utilises current staff resources through referrals and coordination of care by nurses, ATSIHW and/or AHP. To be effective, guidelines and staff in-service education are required. It is also proposed that this model is suitable for many chronic diseases.
Kerin Fielding
Associate Professor Kerin Fielding was the first female orthopaedic surgeon in NSW and has established a successful career in Wagga Wagga and the Riverina over the past 30 years. She specialises in hip and knee arthroplasty, spinal surgery and trauma, as well as supervising advanced orthopaedic trainees.
Associate Professor Fielding is a leader in surgical education. She has been an instructor and director of Early Management of Severe Trauma (EMST) courses of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) for 20 years and she currently serves on the national EMST committee. She is the director of the only remaining rural EMST course, run in Wagga Wagga.
As an active faculty member at The University of Notre Dame Australia Rural Clinical School and Chair of the NSW Surgical Training Council for the NSW Health Education and Training Institute of NSW Health, she has pioneered work in prevocational education for nearly 15 years.
She is a recipient of the NSW state medal for RACS, and she has served as a national Councillor since 2015. She is Chair of the Professional Standards Committee and is leading the College’s Rural Health Equity Strategy. This year she was awarded RACS NSW ‘Supervisor of the Year’.
Rural Health Equity Strategy: select, train, retain and collaborate for rural
On average, people living in rural, regional and remote locations have worse health outcomes compared with people living in metropolitan areas. The disparity is exacerbated with increasing remoteness. Geographical maldistribution of specialist services is a significant factor contributing to poorer health outcomes in rural and remote settings.
Addressing rural health equity is a complex issue. It requires multiple actions at various levels by many stakeholders. Bundled interventions spanning the whole career cycle of a surgeon need to be tailored to context as determined by location and patient needs designed through an evidence-based approach. After an extensive literature review, several white papers were drafted to provide supporting evidence to recommendations. Safe patient outcomes can be delivered by flexible and pragmatic processes.
In October 2020, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Council approved the implementation of its inaugural Rural Health Equity Strategic Action Plan (Strategy) for rural health equity as an area of focus across all RACS portfolios. The Strategy was a flagship initiative for RACS in 2021. It demonstrates the commitment to our social responsibility and mission to address health inequity for our underserved communities living in rural, provincial, regional and remote locations in Australia and New Zealand.
The Strategy provides pragmatic actions to meet the rural surgical goals of the RACS Strategic Plan, policies and position papers, and the Surgical Competence and Performance Framework through the levers of representation, selection, training, retention and collaboration for surgical services for rural communities.
The Strategy aims to improve health equity for remote, rural, regional and provincial people in Australia and New Zealand. The Strategy aims to:
- increase the rural surgical workforce and reduce workforce maldistribution through the Select for Rural, Train for Rural and Retain for Rural strategies
- build sustainable surgical services in Australia and New Zealand, through the Collaborate for Rural strategy.
The Strategy focuses on patient-centred surgical care and sustainable surgical workforces in remote, rural and regional Australia and New Zealand. With persistent health inequity for underserved populations and the impacts of climate change, RACS anticipates the need for a culturally and emotionally intelligent, broad-scope surgical workforce, across all surgical disciplines, with the skills and motivation to work collaboratively and effectively in areas of need and limited resource environments, including globally. The term rural is used to encompass regional, rural and remote.
Karin Fisher
Dr Karin Fisher is a research academic in the Department of Rural Health at the University of Newcastle. After working in clinical nurse positions in public hospitals and public health, Karin left clinical practice to pursue a research career at the University of Newcastle.
As Karin works and lives in a rural area, she is particularly interested in challenging deficit constructions associated with equity in the fields of the rural health workforce and rural health services delivery. She is also interested in the significance of rurality as a marker for affecting health and shaping different experiences, especially changes in the meanings associated with health and disease. Karin’s research covers different paradigms such as empirical–analytical, interpretive and just recently touched on critical research. Karin is also familiar with mixed quantitative and qualitative research designs.
Karin’s current research interests include health services research, primary health care, public health issues, interprofessional collaboration and health workforce, particularly from an equity perspective.
Factors influencing rural practice in graduates from two Australian universities
Introduction: Limited evidence is available about factors influencing allied health and nursing graduates’ preferred geographical location on first entering the workforce. This presentation reports findings from the longitudinal Nursing and Allied Health Graduate Outcome Tracking (NAHGOT) study. This analysis examined first-year nursing and allied health graduates of the University of Newcastle and Monash University to identify graduates’ preferred practice location and the reasons that influenced their choices.
Methods: Principal place of practice (PPP) was acquired from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) for graduates who completed their degrees in 2018 and 2019. PPP was linked with university enrolment data and responses from the Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS). The analysis included chi-square tests for proportions: (i) working in their preferred geographical location; (ii) specific factors that influenced the choice of work location; and (iii) comparisons of these by rural origin, rural practice location, discipline, university and other demographic characteristics. Logistic regressions explored associations between (i) reasons for geographical practice location and practising in one’s preferred location and (ii) any differences by rural versus a metropolitan location of PPP.
Results: Initial analysis from one university indicates that most (85.2%) of Ahpra–registered graduates who completed the GOS (n=345) were working in their preferred geographic location. A higher proportion of metropolitan-based practitioners reported being in their preferred location than rural practitioners (89% vs 72% p<0.0001). Commonly reported factors influencing their choice of location were proximity to family or friends (56.8%), the lifestyle of the area (51.9%), spouse/partners’ employment (41.7%), an opportunity for career advancement (40.9%), desire to return to/remain in hometown (34.5%) and previous placement/internship location (30.4%). While metropolitan practitioners were more likely than rural practitioners to report spouses’ employment (p=0.019) and proximity to family and friends (p=0.035) as important reasons for their geographic location, there was no significant difference between rural and metropolitan registrants in other factors. The presentation will include results from the analysis of data from both universities.
Conclusions: This study provides relational and intrinsic insights that positively influenced allied health and nursing graduates’ preferred practice location when first entering the workforce. Transforming institutional structures through collaborating across diverse industries can reframe and strengthen the rural workforce and help to develop innovative practices to attract and retain recent graduates in rural locations. The NAHGOT study design offers a credible, systematic, collaborative foundation for allied health and nursing graduate research and contributes to workforce planning.
Joanne Flavel
Dr Joanne Flavel is a research fellow in social determinants of health at the Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity at Flinders University. She is an economist and social epidemiologist with expertise in quantitative research. Her research explores the impact of the distribution of social determinants of health on health equity, and interactions between health and work. Joanne is a member of an international research network, the Punching Above their Weight Network, formed to advance thinking and research about how some countries and regions do much better in terms of health outcomes than would be predicted by their economic status. She received her PhD from Flinders University in 2016 and previously worked as a research fellow at the National Institute of Labour Studies. She is a member of the executive committee for the South Australian Branch of the Public Health Association of Australia, and a member of the executive committee and convenor of the professional development and events working group for the Australian Association of Gerontology student and early career group.
Examining regional health inequalities in Australia and social determinants of health
Health inequality has worsened in Australia since the 1980s, despite overall progress on a range of social and economic indicators. The impact of social determinants of health (SDH) in shaping health outcomes is now well established. Regional differences in the distribution of SDH and the impact of regional inequality on health inequalities has received less focus. This study aimed to identify trends in regional health inequalities compared to metropolitan inequalities and to identify how SDH contribute to explaining regional inequalities in health.
The Productivity Commission’s report on Transitioning Regional Economies provided evidence on the effectiveness of regional policies designed to reduce poverty and disadvantage following the resources investment boom. The National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) was critical of the Productivity Commission’s assessment of the worth of developmental assistance to regions, arguing that any consideration of regional inequality indicators should include health as an indicator and outcome of regional inequality.
Our research examined data from the Public Health Information Development Unit and Australian Bureau of Statistics. We conducted analyses of data for capital cities, rest of states and territories, remoteness and local government areas to compare socioeconomic disadvantage for regional Australia with metropolitan areas and trends over time from the late 1980s to the present. We analysed differences in rates and percentages for health measures and a range of SDH, and further assessed inequalities by calculating rate ratios and the slope index of inequality.
Our preliminary results suggest that inequality has worsened for health, income and employment in regional and metropolitan areas. Inequality in secondary education has decreased, but differences in participation and retention in education remain between major cities, regional and remote areas. The housing crisis affects metropolitan and regional areas, with median rents rising more than median income and increases in rental and mortgage stress. While regional areas overall have a higher burden of disease than metropolitan Australia, there is heterogeneity in health outcomes and the distribution of SDH particularly within rural and remote areas. This heterogeneity has implications for the type and density of service provision.
Our project will report on our engagement with policy actors, including ACCHOs and NGOs, concerning ways our findings can be utilised to facilitate more effective, better-targeted and equitable assistance to regional Australia.
Richard Fletcher
Richard Fletcher is Associate Professor in the School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, New South Wales. He has been conducting programs and research with boys, fathers and families for over 20 years and was the convenor of the Australian Fatherhood Research Network for 10 years. His current research includes: father’s role in families with postnatal depression; young parents’ strengths; father–infant attachment; Aboriginal fathering; using the web for parent support; and supporting fathers in the event of stillbirth.
Reaching rural fathers through text
Men from rural areas of Australia are equally likely to experience mental disorders as their urban counterparts but will have less access to mental health services. Men outside the metropolitan areas report higher rates of risk behaviour such as substance abuse and face particular stresses such as drought and physical isolation. The lower availability of psychiatrists, mental health nurses and psychologists is reflected in lower rates of Medical Benefit Scheme expenditure for mental health in rural areas. The higher rates of suicide in rural areas has been attributed to less availability of mental health specialists coupled with sociodemographic factors leading to lower mental health diagnoses and treatment, particularly for men.
Rural men starting a family have added stress from environmental conditions such as drought and isolation but face the same challenges as other men in developing their role as a father. Although paternal mental health is recognised as a an important health issue with implications for infant and maternal wellbeing, there is currently no universal screening available for fathers and supports for parenting difficulties over the perinatal period are accessed mainly by mothers.
SMS4dads, a web-based program, sending brief SMS messages to fathers (partners) in all rural and remote locations has the potential to screen and support fathers from rural areas. The messages, from 12 weeks’ gestation until 48 weeks post-birth, address three areas: father–infant attachment, fathers’ support for the mother and fathers’ mental wellbeing.
The program includes screening with the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and regular Mood Checker interactive texts. Distressed fathers are linked to online parenting and mental health services for support. SMS4dads has demonstrated high acceptability among fathers, including those with high levels of distress.
Over 2020–21, more than 4,000 NSW fathers from rural and urban areas enrolled in SMS4dads. In this presentation the characteristics of expectant and new fathers from rural areas of New South Wales are described and an analysis is provided of their use of the digital SMS4dads platform to access parenting and mental health support.
Kelly Foran
Kelly Foran is a health consumer from Glen Innes in New South Wales. Friendly Faces Helping Hands was established after she experienced several traumas such as developing a sudden life-threatening health issue for herself and her unborn son in 2011. The ordeal was further exacerbated when her baby son was diagnosed with life-threatening cancer. Her family navigated seven hospitals in two states and three health systems. Based on her experiences, she established a website to support others on their journey through the health system: www.friendlyfaces.info.
Friendly Faces Helping Hands: improving the rural patient journey in NSW
Each year, on average, 600 rural New South Wales (NSW) families are impacted by trauma requiring health care a long way from home, kin and country. The Friendly Faces Helping Hands website – originally created by CEO of the Friendly Faces Helping Hands Foundation, Kelly Foran, after her lived experience requiring seven hospital stays across two states 17 years ago – was re-launched during National Carer’s Week in October 2020. It is a ‘go to’ place for rural families, providing practical support and information for 38 hospitals in NSW and cross border: www.friendlyfaces.info
The website is easy to navigate and contains information including:
- a hospital directory for services available
- accommodation nearby
- parking and public transport
- food, retail and cheap eats
- support workers
- charities
- parks and playgrounds close-by
- resources and support organisations.
An Aboriginal co-design group was convened from January to June 2021 to review the website content, resources and promotional material from an Aboriginal perspective, for distribution to Aboriginal and multicultural communities and organisations. This included commissioning an Aboriginal artist to create a culturally engaging patient/carer checklist and promotional material for social media, TV monitor screens in waiting areas and newsletter inserts.
At July 2021, the refreshed website has seen a 66 per cent sustained increase in usage, from 697 total users in the three months pre-launch (July to September 2020) to 1,673 total users in the previous three months (April to June 2021). In addition, free calls to the hotline have halved, suggesting that the website is providing the information rural families are looking for. Google analytic reports in June 2021 showed that individual valid web pages indexed in Google search have grown from 40 in February to 150 in May and that the website now has a firm foothold in Google.
This presentation outlines the processes, from July to December 2021, to embed the Friendly Faces Helping Hands website and resources across carer and consumer groups and major metropolitan and regional referral hospitals, including NSW Ambulance. The aim is for rural patients and their families to have more control of the situation BEFORE transfer from a rural area to a larger hospital and to decrease the hardship and vulnerability experienced when health care is required in unfamiliar territory. Efforts are also underway to include the promotional flyer as part of the pre-admission process for rural patients requiring planned admissions to city hospitals (such as cardiac, transplant).
Help at your fingertips!
Judy Ford
Judith Elise Ford has been involved in the world of science since 1973 when she graduated from Bristol University (CertEd Rural Science). She then went on to complete her BEd (Mathematics and Biology) and MEd (Hons Computer Science) in Sydney, Australia. For fifteen years she taught science, mathematics, biology and computer science at secondary and tertiary levels (Charles Sturt University) before moving into marketing and fundraising for various charities and not-for-profits. Organisations included Hornsby Hospital, Red Nose (SIDS), Child Flight NSW (CEO) and Motor Neurone Disease NSW. In recent years, she worked for a short time at both Australian National University and the University of Canberra. In 2018 she joined Heart Support Australia for several months before moving to the Canberra Hospital Foundation. In 2020 she was invited to take up the position of Chief Executive Officer for Heart Support Australia.
Judith is particularly interested in heart diseases as she has a family history of cardiovascular disease and is keen to help prevent the 50 per cent of people who have had a heart event, and are likely to have a secondary one, from dying. She is a strong advocate of peer support and is working hard to build a strong network of peer-support groups across Australia. This includes a virtual peer-support group for remote places.
Prevention of secondary heart events for people living in remote areas
Summary: Bringing peer support to heart patients living remotely via Zoom to prevent mental illness and consequently a secondary heart event.
Since the late 1980s Heart Support Australia (HSA) – formerly known as the Australian Cardiac Association – has been assisting people who have suffered from a heart event by providing support, information and encouragement through personal contact.
HSA believes that patients who have undergone surgery, or have inoperable heart defects or any other heart condition, require a positive health enhancement effort for the rest of their lives. Members and patients are encouraged to take active and willing roles as responsible members of the community and assume a reasonable amount of responsibility for the management of their own health, ideally through programs which encourage lifetime motivation, compliance and maintenance.
HSA has the potential to reach all Australians who have, or may be developing, cardiovascular disease or other heart conditions, as well as their families and carers. HSA promotes, within this target group, awareness and informed management of the physical and psychosocial aspects of their particular condition. We therefore have a very keen interest in cardiac rehabilitation and the prevention of secondary events.
Research over the years has shown that peer support has a huge benefit for assisting people with mental health problems. People who have undergone heart surgery or suffered from heart failure are very prone to becoming depressed. This leads to a sense of no hope, which in turn results in forgetting or refusing to take important medication. This is the major reason people have a secondary heart event and often die.
Currently our peer-support groups meet face to face in both major cities and some rural towns. However, many people who would like to access a peer-support group cannot because we have not established a group nearby. This is particularly the case for people living remotely, and they are the ones most susceptible to mental health as they are isolated and live far from medical help.
HSA has created a virtual peer-support group and we would like to present at the conference our results of its effectiveness after six months of operation.
Ruth Freeland
A reformed lawyer turned business developer with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, one of the USA’s largest healthcare law firms, Ruth Freeland’s own personal journey with breast cancer began in Nashville more than 10 years ago. This led her to volunteer as Education Ambassador for the state of Tennessee with Bright Pink, a not-for-profit organisation based in Chicago whose strategy focuses on inspiring women to practice breast and ovarian cancer prevention. As Education Ambassador, Ruth educated university students on breast and ovarian cancer, empowering them to know their risk and manage their health proactively.
Since returning to Australia and joining YWCA Australia as National Program Manager for Encore, an exercise program for women who have experienced breast cancer, Ruth’s goal is to develop the program in ways that increase its reach to women of diverse backgrounds within metropolitan, regional and rural communities, and encourage women to take control of their own recovery process so that they can live quality, fulfilling lives.
Exercise and breast cancer recovery: making the most of life’s encore
Exercise plays an important role in the recovery process of women who have experienced breast cancer and who often suffer due to loss of upper-body strength and mobility, lymphoedema, and loss of self-esteem and the ability – or even the desire – to regain the lifestyle they previously enjoyed.
Funded by the Australian Government’s Driving Social Inclusion through Sport and Physical Activity Program, the Western Australian Department of Health and NSW Health’s South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, the Encore Program is a free exercise and information program specifically designed for women who have experienced breast cancer or undergone preventive surgery.
Overseen by an Advisory Committee of breast-cancer-specific researchers and healthcare practitioners in the fields of exercise physiology, epidemiology, lymphology, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and women’s health, this unique prescriptive exercise program of land- and pool-based exercises includes mobility and stretching exercises focusing on the upper body, aimed at maintaining and improving range of motion, as well as building cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory fitness.
The targeted exercises allow for a graduation in intensity and have been shown to significantly improve fitness, strength, mobility and flexibility over the course of the eight-week program.
In addition, participants are provided with information and resources on healthy lifestyles, linked to local service providers, and have an opportunity to share common experiences and concerns with other women.
With the advent of COVID-19, Encore now has an online presence and there is a focus on how best to use this medium to adapt the program to meet the needs of women in more isolated areas – in addition to face-to-face programming currently being delivered in rural and regional Australia.
The presentation will highlight the benefits of a gentle prescriptive exercise and support program for women who have experienced breast cancer, results achieved, barriers encountered, and how the program can assist women living in rural and regional areas.