Media Release: FARMERS’ HEALTH PROGRAM WINS AWARD

FROM THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH

DATE: Friday, November 25, 2005

FARMERS’ HEALTH PROGRAM WINS AWARD

Farmers throughout the Southern Grampians in Hamilton and Penshurst are working on keeping themselves alive and healthy – rather than solely concentrating on their stock and crops.

It’s thanks to a visionary program ‘Sustainable Farm Families’ being run by Western District Health Service, which won a major Government health award last night.

Health Minister Bronwyn Pike said the Sustainable Farm Families project had improved farmers’ health by significantly changing the way they think and access health services.

“Farmers tend to neglect their own health - spending more on nutrition and health advice for their cows and sheep than they do for their own families,” Ms Pike said.

This program has linked farming families with health professionals that have given farmers physical assessments and set them targets for various health indicators such as cholesterol levels and waist measurements and provided them with resource and information kits. The program was last night announced as winner of the “Excellence in consumer involvement in their own care” award at the inaugural Victorian Public Healthcare Awards.

“Support for this project has been overwhelming and it has spread far wider than the southern Grampians. More than 320 farmers from across 112 Victorian districts have participated over the last two years and the program has proved so popular that it has also been extended to the Victorian dairy industry,” Ms Pike said.

“After two years, every single person in the program has made some achievement regarding their health and lifestyle.

“In addition, medical referrals in the second year of the program dropped from 81 per cent to 45 percent in men, and from 84 per cent to 48 per cent in women. This means that people are getting healthier and maintaining a better level of health.

“This program has been a vital tool in overcoming the geographic isolation of many rural farmers and their families. It’s making them more aware of the health services and information available to them and it’s increasing their confidence and knowledge of how to access those services.”

The Department of Human Services is currently funding a ‘train the trainer’ program for the Sustainable Farm Families project, to help see the program reach as far and wide as it can throughout Victoria.

The awards, judged by 95 experts from the Victorian healthcare industry lead by respected health commentator Dr Norman Swan, have attracted hundreds of entrants and are now the biggest event on the state’s public healthcare calendar.