Admissions climbing in Geelong

feeds the animals, checking them over and completing training to help her understand the animals and their health.

“I love working with the rhinos, that’s always a good day,” Ms Irving said. “It’s hard to pick a favourite, I love them all for different reasons.

“The more you work with h animals you get to understand d them and build a relationship.

“It’s the best job, couldn’t t recommend it highly enough.” ” NEW private health data has laid bare the skyrocketing number of Geelong residents seeking mental health help.

The number of hospital admissions for mental health grew by 25 per cent between 2017 and 2018 among Medibank Group patients in the Greater Geelong area.

The data shows there were more than 900 hospital admissions among local Medibank patients for mental health treatment, compared to 719 in 2017.

Medibank did not say how many customers it has in Greater Geelong.

Medibank healthcare & strategy group executive Dr Andrew Wilson, a practising psychiatrist, said the increase in hospital admissions could be a result of greater community awareness and an increase in needing treatment.

“Our customers in and around Geelong have accessed more than 2900 days in hospital for same-day or overnight mental health treatment, and Medibank and ahm paid $1.8 million for our local customers’ mental health treatment last year,” he said.

“Medibank’s data reveals 70 per cent of the total hospital admissions for mental health were for customers aged between 20 and 49.”