Service celebrates year at Rupanyup
West Wimmera Health Service has used an annual meeting at Rupanyup to celebrate highlights and achievements of the past 12 months and to look to the future.
People from across the service’s reach area attended the evening at Rupanyup, which along with Minyip and Murtoa, were formerly under Dunmunkle Health Services.
Dunmunkle services merged with West Wimmera Health Service in July 2016.
Acting chief executive Ritchie Dodds said the annual meeting was a great success.
“While we have headquarters at Nhill, we are of course proud to equally serve all of the nine vibrant communities across our large catchment area,” he said.
“Taking our AGM on the road to Rupanyup was a great way to engage with members of our wider West Wimmera Health Service communities.”
The focus of the annual meeting was the safety of customers and the quality of care provided to them.
Guest speakers Lesley Robinson, Bianca Jones, Kimberlee Howe and Laura Schembri gave a presentation on ‘Working Together for Better Diabetes Management’.
The service provided guests with an overview of its collaborative approach to diabetes management and better outcomes for its customers.
“Our audience was astounded to learn that one in 11 adults have diabetes, meaning it affects 425-million people around the world,” Mr Dodds said.
“This is a relevant and topical health condition among all of our communities, so we wanted to take the opportunity to share how our team approach to helping people with diabetes gives individual support and care to help people effectively manage their condition.
“We will continue to share more information about our services and programs, such as our diabetes-management support, with all our communities via regional newspapers and social media.”
The annual meeting also provided an occasion to set the scene for the service’s future with the launch of its new Strategic Plan 2017-2022.
The service unveiled its five key strategic focuses to the community.
These set a blueprint for the future direction of the service.
They are: Empower our community to live their best life; invest in population health; build partnerships for healthier communities; harness technology and innovation; and strengthen our workforce capacity.
Copies of the Strategic Plan 2017-2022 and a copy of the quality account are available online at www.wwhs.net.au/about_us/publications or by emailing Ashleigh.morrison@wwhs.net.au.