Program Area
Healthy Communities
The Foundation has recently completed a comprehensive review of our Program Areas. Our revised funding strategy aims to maximise the impact of our grants and our effectiveness as a philanthropic foundation. The Health Program Area has been renamed Healthy Communities in line with the revised funding objectives.
The purpose of the Healthy Communities Program is to improve the quality of life for those in our community living with disability or illness, and to support programs which focus on the prevention of diseases, as well as programs which recognise the health implications of changes in our climate.
Funding Information
FUNDING OBJECTIVES
- To support innovative programs designed to improve the delivery of services to people handicapped by health conditions
- To support educational programs for the prevention of diseases
- To support projects designed to enhance the lives of people with disability or illness.
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.
CLOSING DATE
Applications for 2010 have closed. The next funding round Closing Date for Healthy Communities will be in 2011. The date will be advised later in the year.
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