Community News
Bellarine Community Health UPDATE
Bellarine Community Health has a crucial role to play as part of the community effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Although some services have been disrupted, many critical services continue:
- GP Clinic in Portarlington
- BCH Community Nursing & Palliative Care
- Urgent and emergency Dental
- Mental health support
- Telehealth for some services
Non-urgent, face-to-face allied health services have been suspended until the end of May based on the current advice to minimise the risk of transmission of COVID-19. For more information visit www.bch.org.au or if you have an urgent need for service, please call 1800 007 224 to discuss your needs.
Myself, and the rest of the Healthy Communities Team have moved out of our BCH office and are navigating this work from home thing together. Please reach out to me via email (leanne.mcfarlane@bch.org.au) and I can even arrange a Teams Meeting chat with you from my home office which is likely to feature my two cute sausage dogs Bonnie and Bruce. Do you need some support writing or reviewing your health and wellbeing policies or is there some capacity right now for you to work through the health areas of the Achievement Program?
LOCAL SUPPORT
In response to the spread of COVID-19, BCH is now offering the following support:
• Transport to health appointments
• Pick-up and delivery of pre-ordered food
• Pharmacy script pick-up and drop-off
Call: 03 5258 0835
*All requests will be prioritised based on need. Vehicle availability is limited. For more information: https://bit.ly/2XMUWo6.
AND HOW ARE YOU DOING? I would like to shine the spotlight on you for a moment and check in to see how you are doing? A big thank you for keeping your students and their families calm during these difficult times. The Healthy Communities Team would like to share with you some important health and wellbeing tips/info so grab yourself a well-deserved cuppa and take a moment to read an example attached. Please feel free to also share with other people who you work with. If you would like us to email you more of these articles or have any specific ‘wellness’ topics you’d like our team to research, please email us at healthycommunities@bch.org.au.
INFO OVERLOAD? There is so much information out there at the moment in response to COVID-19 and I don’t know about you, but I am finding it all a bit overwhelming. A new Wellbeing Library: coronavirus (COVID-19) is now available on the Achievement Program website. It has free, hand-picked resources, tools and information to support teachers, educators, students and families to maintain health and wellbeing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Check it out here: www.achievementprogram.health.vic.gov.au/coronavirus/education
If there is anything else, myself and the team can support you with during these difficult times, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Cheers,
Leanne (and all of us in the Healthy Communities Team - Ruby, Laura & Zoe)
Leanne McFarlane
Healthy Communities Planner
(03) 5258 6142