City of Greater DandenongMaternal 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

• 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 EnglishEnglish fluency had declined 3%

Maternal and Child Health

• 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!

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• SEMML grant• Bridging the Gap• Right@home• Dandenong South Project

Sohm Aw kooon Jrahn!