Program Area
Health & Disability
The Healthy Communities program has been renamed Health & Disability to clearly differentiate the Program Area from Community Wellbeing. We hope it makes it easier for you to determine which area you are eligible to apply to.
The objectives have also been revised to more clearly articulate the Foundation’s preferred approach to supporting programs aimed at improving outcomes for people living with disability and/or illness.
The Foundation supports programs and organisations working to enhance the lives of people with disability or chronic illness and/or to promote the health of the community.
Funding Information
FUNDING OBJECTIVES
The Foundation will favourably consider proposals that aim to:- Enhance the lives of individuals with disability or chronic illness, particularly through innovative approaches to health service delivery;
- Promote research and development in public health and preventative medicine initiatives aimed at improving the health of the Australian community.
EXCLUSIONS
The Foundation will not normally support requests for funds for:
- salaries of health personnel, research assistants, small items of equipment, or programs which are usually substantially funded by Government or major public health organisations
- equipment and services which should properly be provided for in the usual operation of the hospital or health facility.
GENERAL EXCLUSIONS
Refer to the Eligibility page for the Foundation's General Exclusions, including our grant making to indigenous projects.
CLOSING DATE
The next funding round closing date for Health & Disability is:
Monday, 30 January 2012
Detailed information regarding the application process can be found on the How to Apply page.
Grant Summaries
Rural Health Education Foundation, ACT
Danila Dilba Youth Service Teenage girls being interviewed about what they would like offered at Danila Dilba.
$10,000 in 2008 to the Strong series, programs 3 and 4: Stay Strong and Strong and Deadly
For more than sixteen years, the Rural Health Education Foundation has been working to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians in rural and remote areas by providing accessible distance education to general practitioners, pharmacists, nurses, Indigenous health workers and other health care professionals.
The aim of the Strong series is to empower both Indigenous communities and health professionals working with them with information, knowledge and positive examples of ‘things that work’ in order to effect change at a community level.
The Productivity Commission has identified ‘things that work’ as important in providing examples of sustainable change at a local level and in illustrating what may not be captured in national data.
In particular, the objective of these two programs is to increase the health and wellbeing of Indigenous children and adolescents by providing high quality educational resources for health professionals and community members.
The tyranny of distance continues to prove a financial challenge to producing educational programs that are relevant and meaningful to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, many of which are located in the most remote parts of Australia. However, filming in these remote areas develops strong relationships with Indigenous communities and makes the resulting programs all the more effective. Without the support of The Ian Potter Foundation, the cost of this aspect of programming would be prohibitive.
Multicultural Centre for Women's Health
$50,000 in 2008 to the Diabetes Healthy Living Project: Diabetes Prevention Education for Immigrant Women's Health and Wellbeing.
The project will provide multilingual information and education to culturally and linguistically diverse background (CALDB) women in Victoria about diabetes prevention and strategies to promote healthier lifestyles. It will target women from communities that have a high incidence of type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes.
The education sessions will be provided to women who are either working from home, or in informal employment such as outwork,
unpaid caring, or seasonal employment. The project will develop a new diabetes education and prevention component as part of the Centre’s existing health promotion and education programs for CALDB women.
The Diabetes Healthy Living Project will be provided in a range of community languages to meet the needs of women whose first language is not English. This approach will enable the program to reach women who would otherwise be unlikely to receive quality information about diabetes-related issues, preventative strategies and available services. The pilot project will run from June 2008 to June 2009.
Members of the Diabetes Healthy Living Project Team
The Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria
Lisa Rath (EFV counsellor) shows zaeneb Abdul Said (Iraqi refugee) the first aid translation
$15,000 in 2008 to provide culturally relevant and accessible epilepsy information.
Under the new Disability Act 2006 (applicable as from 1 July, 2007), the Department of Health Services requires that service providers provide culturally relevant and accessible information to all new clients. To meet this requirement the Epilepsy Foundation requested funding to translate its two essential brochures: Seizure First Aid and Our Services into the top 20 languages for those Victorians who speak limited or no English.
One of the challenges was completing the full translations to the appropriate standards because of the specific medical terminology. After completion, it was found that the brochures could have the greatest impact in the different cultural groups when they were placed directly into the communities using what for them are their conventional communication systems.
The translations will provide people with epilepsy and their families with user-friendly information; reduce the already significant barriers people with epilepsy face; and make it easier for people with epilepsy to access appropriate services.
Inner South Community Health Service, VIC
The Inner South Community Health Service is a mainstream health organisation with a strong focus on marginalised groups. The aim of the Program is to improve health outcomes for the local Indigenous community in the St Kilda area of Melbourne by providing a friendlier model of care.
The project will increase GP and nurse hours to a full day each week to respond to the increasing demand from the local Indigenous community.
Every second week the program will run outreach clinics. Once a month these outreach clinics will include other allied health services, such as a podiatrist, physiotherapist and counsellors. The program will also complete health checks on clients, refer clients to outpatient clinics and assist with Medicare registration.
This important project may provide a model of medical care for Indigenous communities that could be used in other areas.
GP practice nurse, Nuala, administering the influenza vaccine at Our Rainbow Place