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Katherine & Tennant Creek Workshops
Producers travelled more than 1300 kilometres to join into the Sustainable Farm Families(SFF) - Reaching the Remote workshops held at Katherine and Tennant Creek last week. 9 men and 10 women participated in the Katherine workshop organised by local facilitator Sara Potter and 12 women and 4 men joined the Tennant Creek workshop organised by Tennant Creek facilitator Helen Kempe.
Producers found the workshop of high quality, informative, good use of their time and appreciated the SFF program information, manuals, workshop format and physical assessments.
The team running the workshops were Susan Brumby ( Team leader)Western District Health Service, Bronwyn Cuthbertson from Skipton Beaufort Health Service, Andrew Smith from East Grampians Health Service and Lucy Buckland from Katherine West Health Board. Despite the remoteness the food and venues were of high quality and were appropriate for the format of the workshops.
The distance travelled and commitment to attend was amazing and very positive.
The participants felt that due to their remoteness, they are often forgotten by funding bodies to deliver services to them. And that the SFF program was a great opportunity for them to experience a health program specific to their needs.
The Northern Territory Workshops were a great success and we look forward to seeing all the participants next year for the second part of the program.
Below are some quotes from the Katherine and Tennant Creek producers.
“It was informative, challenging and some parts were fun”
“I enjoyed the wide variety of topics, and hearing from other participants”
“I always believe health is important – need to treat the cause, not just band aid it”
“It really reinforced how it’s vital to have good health to enjoy our life and cope with our workloads”
“Health equals production and happiness. Rural Australia is important to the Australian economy”
“The workshop had a good choice of subjects applicable to our lifestyle”
NT Team outside DPI, Tennant Creek
L-R Helen Kempe (DPIFM NT), Susan Brumby (WDHS VIC), Sara Potter (Katherine Facilitator), Lucy Buckland (Katherine West Health Board NT), Bronwyn Cuthbertson (Beaufort Skipton Health Service)& Andrew Smith (East Grampians Health Service VIC)
Georgetown & Mt Surprise Workshops, Queensland
Two Sustainable Farm Families Workshops were held in Queensland in the remote towns of Georgetown and Mt Surprise on the 27th and 28th November 2006 and 30th and 1st December 2006. The program attracted 24 participants from surrounding areas.
Participants found the workshops to be informative and worthwhile. One participant commented “I feel this course will prove very good for our business and will be very helpful to others”.
Anna Burley (Georgetown/Mt Surprise Facilitator) local Savannah Regional Health Nurse organised and ran the workshops together with the QLD SFF team of Stuart Willder (WDHS), Susan Watt (WDHS) and Damian Melican from Colac Area Health.
The participants enjoyed the program and certainly gave the SFF program an insight into the health and wellbeing and grazing industry of remote Far North Queensland. The program ran smoothly with the good will and support of all participants, a highlight for the team. We look forward to returning to the groups next year.
Walgett and Burren Junction Workshops
Two Sustainable Farm Families workshops were organised by Local Walgett facilitator Jodi Mclean, as well as an evening out with local community people.
Walgett is situated in the far north west of New South Wales with Agriculture (crops, wool/ sheep) its main source of income, as well as its opals from nearby Lightening Ridge. Burren Junction is 91Km east of Walgett and 680Km north west of Sydney.
The team running the workshops were Susan Brumby (Team leader) Western District Health Service, Aaron Wales from Bendigo Health Care Group and Cheryl Lang from Colac Area Health. It rained on the first morning in Walgett which made it difficult for some participants to leave their farms and highlighted the challenges of living on flood plains and the differing effects of weather on well made plans. A fabulous storm also occurred during the community dinner, with a substantial blackout with the night being fun and memorable. Despite the remoteness the food was of high quality, healthy and tasted great and the venues were perfect for the workshops.
All participants enjoyed the program and gave the SFF program an insight into the issues and challenges of farmer health and wellbeing of far North West NSW. The program ran smoothly with the good will and support of all participants and organisers, a highlight for the team. We are all looking forward to returning to the groups next year.
A special thanks to the Walgett Shire Council for their support and use of council chambers for the program – much appreciated.
Two remote programs were held in the Goldfields region within Western Australia South Coast. The first group was ran in the small township of Cascade in which 14 local farming family members attended. The cascade region was like an oasis in a dry wheat and grain belt region of WA. Although the area was dry the participants enjoyed the interaction and information shared throughout the workshop.
The region of cascade is a relatively young region with only one or two prior generations having settled in the area. This gave rise to a young and enthusiastic group who were keen to learn and understand health facts.
Team members were Stu Willder, Sue Campigli, Geoff Bartlett all from Victoria and Tanya Robinson, Marg Carmody, Val Lane, and local facilitator Dale Rooney.
One comment from a participant read – “this was a great reminder for farmers to take care of themselves and be informed about specific health issues”.
Participants are looking forward to the running of the second year of the program and the return of team members who linked with local health service members to run the program.
The second program was run in Esperance which is on the south coast approximately eight hours East of Perth. Once again this program was a great success with 22 participating. Comments included “Stress free and very informative,” and “I wish a lot of the younger families would take this on board”.
The program had established links the local Esperance Health Service and plans are in place to run next years program at the community health service to assist in enhancing the knowledge of the local farming population of health service programs, staff and future health related events.
Overall both programs were well attended and participants and team members look forward to returning in 12 months time to run the second half of the program.
