BUSHkids 2017-18 Annual Report

8,068

Bundaberg As in Emerald, the Bundaberg AH team is now co-located with the ECEI team. Throughout the year they have worked closely together to provide community engagement activities with local services, stakeholders and at community events. The co-location has also provided opportunities for peer support and collaboration, including the provision of targeted programs including Read and Grow and a supported playgroup. The clinical staff have worked hard to maximise therapy time and reduce waitlists by providing individual assessment, and intervention and group programs, both locally and at outreach locations around Bundaberg. Outreach has included

Allied Health sessions in 2017–18 for 1,856 kids

assessments at Mount Perry State School, unidisciplinary and multidisciplinary assessment and intervention in Gin Gin and Childers, and group programs provided to kindies in Childers and Burnett Heads.

643

Sessions for kids in Wide Bay and the Burnett

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Mount Isa Case Study Eddie 1 lives with his family in a remote Aboriginal community on the Northern Territory border and travels with his mum to one of our regional towns to access support from BUSHkids’ Speech Pathologist and OT. With no mobile phone reception and few landlines, communication with his family has been facilitated by the Community Health Clinic Manager in arranging appointments and flights. The latter are provided by Queensland Health and multiple agencies are working together in innovative ways to assist this geographically isolated family to access services and support for Eddie’s development. Eddie was referred to BUSHkids with concerns for his learning. At home, Eddie’s family speaks both an Aboriginal language and English and a key goal for his mum has been to develop his communication skills. The BUSHkids team and his mum collaborated to develop an individualised ‘core word board’ for use with him.

Mount Isa With the addition of a part-time administration officer to the team in early 2018, the Mount Isa clinical team has been able to devote more time to working with children and families; however, difficulties recruiting qualified staff remains a challenge. To ensure the community’s needs are met, the Mount Isa team has been supported by BUSHkids staff from the Warwick Centre who provided training for the team and other community stakeholders in the Abecedarian 3a and the Fun FRIENDS/Strong Not Tough programs Warwick also provided a family health support worker to support our highly successful intensive parenting support week. Community engagement has been particularly successful, providing a strong profile in the Mount Isa community. The team supported a number of major activities including NAIDOC Week celebrations, the Welcoming Babies Ceremony and Mega Playgroup Day, and as a result have received exceptional support from the Mount Isa community.

Like the example shown here, Eddie’s contains pictures representing key words, which he can select by pointing

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A number of generous donations have been received to support the Mount Isa Centre including fundraising efforts from a Rodeo Queen entrant, the Duchess Men’s Group and from Bunnings who have helped us rebuild the outdoor therapy area and garden, which was sadly vandalised. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has also provided invaluable support to the centre by building resources for clinical staff to use with families and undertaking general maintenance activities in the Centre.

to them to get his message across. Eddie’s mum has reported that he has been using the board when prompted and she had seen a decrease in meltdowns due to frustration with not being understood. 1 Not his real name

Community Education sessions conducted