City of Greater Dandenong
Maternal and Child Health
Integrating with Diversity
in our
Multicultural Community
Bernadette Harrison
Catherine Mills
Situated 23 km from CBD
Population of nearly 145,000
residents
150+ different nationalities
>50% born overseas
>50% English is not the main
language
Unique City of Greater Dandenong
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Most disadvantaged municipality
Highest Government IRSED
2012 AEDI high levels of vulnerability
2012-13
• almost 2500 birth notices
• 50% first time mothers
• 81% women born overseas
• 13% less than 25 years old
• At 3 months 52% fully breast feeding, with 39% at 6 months
• 13% of partners were unemployed
Unique City of Greater Dandenong
• 101 identified countries from:
• Australia
• India
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• Sri Lanka
• Afghanistan
• China
• Iran
• Burma
69 languages spoken included:
•English
•Vietnamese
•Punjabi
•Khmer
•Kiswahili
•Mandarin
•Dari
8% of women had no English
English fluency had declined 3%
Maternal and Child Health
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17 centres
1 MCH Co-ordinator and 39 MCHN’s
2 EPSO’s
1 SCP for Right@home
2 Multilingual Peer Educators
3 Business Support Administrators
2 student MCHN‘s
Every day…today!
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Flexible & Innovative
Sleep Settling sessions
Cooking for your baby and Infant Program
Multilingual Parent Groups
Young Women’s Group
CPR groups
Extended hours of operation including Saturday Morning sessions
Integrated approach
CGD MCH Enhanced services
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3 MCHN’s and 2 EPSO’s working in partnership
Direct referrals from hospital
Over 300 families seen last financial year
Multiple complex needs
Interpreters
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Single and Group Sessions
Extra time to KAS visits
Use of the same female interpreter
On site and phone consultations
Sourcing Interpreters
Group sessions for particular languages
Extra administration time
Additional home visits
The Service Provision
As stated by Dr. Elisha Riggs (Murdoch Institute, 2014) “…….. that
although there is good access to the MCH service in Melbourne, significant
barriers remain due to initial access, continued engagement, language
challengers and how things could be done better. There is a lack of service
provision to identify families who have arrived requiring MCH services”.
Refugees and Asylum seekers
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Increases over the past 4 years
MCH central point of contact
Highest permanent protection visas over a 5 year period
Collaborative partnerships with AMES, Foundation House and Red
Cross
Refugee Health Liaison nurse
AMES Liaison nurse
Integrated Services in CGD
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Springvale Services for Children Early Learning centre
Co-location Program in GP clinic
Dandenong & District Cooperative- Bunurong
Lactation Day Stay Program
School Hubs Project
Research in CGD
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SEMML grant
Bridging the Gap
Right@home
Dandenong South Project
Sohm Aw kooon Jrahn!