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Kara Court residents and staff commemorated ANZAC day with a service on Friday 23rd April 2021

The service was performed by Bob Wooley from the St Arnaud RSL. 104-year-old Maud Coates laid the wreath and Mrs Kay Smith played the last post.

Maud was in the services during WW2 from 1942 until 1946 with RAAF.

Maud first started as a clerical assistant at the Engineering school which was located at the Melbourne Showgrounds. The day she started was the day of the Japanese bombing of Darwin.

From there, in 1943, Maud worked in records in Prahran for 6 months and then moved to the RAAF recruiting centre in Preston.

In 1944, Maud worked in canteen services. In this role she was responsible for ordering, accounting and shipment of goods, such as liquor and tobacco to stations in the Southern Command (which included Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania). It was during this time that the Battle of the Coral Sea took place.

Maud also had two younger sisters in the RAAF. One is now deceased and the other lives in Perth and is 102 years old.

Maud is pictured here with Leisure and Lifestyle coordinator Nadia Shtereva and Wynn Battersby, a long standing neighbour and the mother of Mrs. Kay Smith.

Deakin Dietitic students at EWHS

BACKGROUND: EWHS has recently farewelled two Dietetic students ‐ Anthea and Emma ‐ who were with us for a 7-week placement. Both students were mentored by our senior Dietitian, Tessa Torney and also worked closely with the Health Promotion team, Rebecca Kiffen and Stacey Keller. The majority of their placement focused on completing a community based project.

The students looked at implementing the Healthy choice framework within the hospitality industry of St Arnaud. This framework has been applied within our own hospital setting, however never been applied within a community setting and therefore this is exciting and unique for our community.

The students’ project main focus was making connections with those businesses interested in implementing changes and then providing recommendations. The Health Promotion team will continue working with businesses in the implementation and evaluation phases, and hopefully extend the project to the Buloke communities of EWHS.

IMAGE:
Pictured are the EWHS Health Promotion team - Rebecca Kiffen and Stacey Keller with Deakin Dietetic students - Anthea Vasiliades and Emma McShane. Absent was EWHS Dietitian Tessa Torney.

STUDENT REPORT: Globally, 1 in every 5 deaths, resulting from chronic disease, is associated with poor diets. Despite this, unhealthy dietary behaviours dominate food consumption patterns, with eating out of home (EOH) recognised as a key contributor to poor diet quality.

In the St Arnaud community, 60% of residents have one or more chronic disease with 53% not eating required fruit and vegetables serves. Increased access to healthier foods when EOH has been requested by community members to help tackle these issues.

Within the recent health and wellbeing survey community members reported the need for more choice, quality and variety in food offered at local retailers, with particular interest in healthier takeaway options.

The local LGA who have outlined “improving healthy eating” as the first priority area in their current Health and Wellbeing Plan, aiming to do so by 'supporting and promoting the use of the HCG for various environments’ including retail outlets.

Through implementation of the healthy choices guidelines (HCG), a government initiative aimed to promote healthier food options whilst EOH, this

project aimed to increase knowledge and access to healthier convenient food options in the St Arnaud community.

By recruiting 25% of food and beverage retail venues in the community, this project was able to uncover the proportion of healthy and unhealthy foods on offer, as categorized by a traffic light system (red, amber, green).

Venues involved included Country Kitchen, Parkview Bakery and Six2Six.

Suggestions on how to provide healthier food options included:

Food and Drinks Based:

1. Use calcium fortified plant based milk alternatives (e.g. soy, almond, oat e.c.t)

2. Use spray oil in cooking where possible

3. For sandwiches use lean meat cuts (such as beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lean ham off the bone) with visible fat and skin removed or meat alternatives like eggs or veggie patty or at least reduced sodium deli meats

4. Use reduced fat dairy products i.e. cheese, milk and yoghurt

5. Use reduced salt versions of sauces, stocks and gravy

6. Increasing green snack options available: fresh fruit/fruit salad, roasted mixed nuts (unsalted), plain popcorn (unsalted), low fat plain yoghurt cups topped with fruit/nuts (in fridge)

Disapply and Promotion Based

1. Increasing the cost of red products by a small margin (e.g. 20c) to reserved more money for green products (which may be more expensive)

2. Special promotion deals with GREEN items e.g. roll/sandwich with a bottle of water

3. Where possible, place soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages at the bottom of drinks fridges and display GREEN choices like water and reduced fat milks at eye level

4. Place GREEN choices in high traffic areas e.g. at counter or at entrance.

Involvement in this project showcased that these hospitality venues are committed to providing healthier food options for the St Arnaud community.

COVID-19 COMMUNITY UPDATE

February 2021

The temporary lockdown appears to have been effective at controlling the spread of COVID cases from the Holiday Inn outbreak and we have enjoyed limited freedoms again since last week.

Similar outbreaks are still possible and we should still remain vigilant, keep our distance and practice great hand hygiene.

If you are unwell, get tested and stay home until you receive a negative test result.

It will be important to continue these practices, even after the vaccine has started rolling out.

As always, the latest information is available from the Department of Health website at:

https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus

Masks remain mandatory in Victoria indoors and are also required outdoors whenever you can’t maintain a safe distance from others. You must carry a mask with you whenever you’re away from home.

Density limits and physical distancing requirements remain in place.

There are still limits to the number of visitors you can have at home.

East Wimmera Health Service will continue to screen and temperature test all visitors to our sites for risk of exposure and general wellbeing and we will arrange testing for those people with symptoms.

Visiting arrangements at our sites remain limited but sensible.

Vaccination Rollout

We are busy preparing for the first phase of the vaccine rollout which will commence in our ergion over the coming weeks and will take many months to complete.

People who have a COVID-19 vaccination have a much lower chance of getting sick from the disease.

Everyone is encouraged to accept the vaccine, which will be free, to ensure we can return to a pre COVID way of life.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration’s (TGA) rigorous assessment process of potential COVID-19 vaccines will ensure approved vaccines are safe and effective.

When you have the vaccine, you will need two doses that will be provided a number of weeks apart.

Keep your eyes and ears out for further information to let you know when and how you might receive your vaccination locally.

Fluvax

Whilst you can’t have your annual Flu vaccination at the same time as your COVID vaccination, it is still very important. Flu vaccinations will be offered as usual this year and we will work with people to have it at a separate time.