Victorian Refugee Health Network E-bulletin November 2009
The Victorian Refugee Health Network brings together health, settlement and community services to be more accessible and responsive to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers. News and Events 1. The Department of Health Priority Tool: is currently being rolled out across Victoria. The tool prioritises refugees and other client groups to all DoH funded services in community health including allied health and dental services. The Primary Health Branch of DoH is currently training community health services in the use of the tool. Click here to view a copy of the tool. 2. Refugee Health Fellows program extended: Funding has been provided to continue the Fellows program for another 12 months. Dr Tom Schultz has been appointed Refugee Health Fellow at Royal Melbourne Hospital and Dr Collette Reveley will continue at the Royal Children's Hospital. These roles provide valuable education and support to GPs and specialists who see refugees particularly in outer metro and rural areas. For further information contact: Refugee.Health@mh.org.au or colette.reveley@rch.org.au 3. Call for papers Diversity in Health Conference, Melbourne 7-9 June 2010 is now open. The conference will feature a Refugee Health and Wellbeing stream. Click here for guidelines regarding submitting abstracts. Abstracts must be received by Monday 8 February 2010. 4. A meeting is to be hosted by Westgate GP Network following issues identified at the Wyndham Refugee Service Co-ordination forum in August to discuss GP engagement and education in refugee health. It will be held on Thursday 3rd December, 2.30pm-4.00pm, at the Westgate GP Network, Hopper’s Crossing. Please RSVP to Katrina.Sangster@isispc.com.au by 27th Nov. Click here for a report about the Wyndham Refugee Service Co-ordination Forum. Resources 5. The Refugee Health Service Coordination Guide for Victoria 2009 is a resource developed by the HealthWest Partnership to support the development of a coordinated approach to providing health services to newly arrived communities. It aims to assist agencies in the development of processes, protocols and pathways to help streamline services and reduce duplication of efforts. Click here for a copy of this guide. 6. Access to specialist services by refugees in Victoria report: this Victorian Refugee Health Network project was commissioned by the Department of Human Services and undertaken by Foundation House. It documents existing care pathways for refugees requiring specialist health services in order to determine the most effective models of care and identify possible new models for local area service delivery. Click here for a copy of the report. 7. National Ethnic Disability Alliance website www.neda.org.au: this website has a number of resources including a report entitled: Refugees and Migrants with Disability and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, click here for a copy of this report. 8. Translating and Interpreting Service Doctors Priority Line: this valuable free phone interpreting service assists medical practitioners and pharmacists to communicate with their non-English speaking patients. Enquiries can be directed to the Client Liaison and Promotions Team on 1300 655 820 for assistance/immediate registration. Click here for the Doctors registration form. Click here for the Pharmacist registration form. Professional Development 9. The Vitamin D Deficiency in Victoria Stakeholders' Forum was held on the 23 October 2009. This well attended forum, organised by DoH and partners, provided an opportunity to discuss progress on strategies to prevent Vitamin D deficiency in Victoria. Click here to view action notes from the forum.
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