Providing healthcare to the vulnerable in the community

The Bowral Mental Health Service has been fortunate in having a strong partnership with the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care Services (DAD&HC) to provide primary and secondary health care to the residents in the Licenced Residential Care Facilities (LRCFs) in the Southern Highlands. DAD&HC has funded a case worker to be employed with the charter to ensure that the physical, mental and social needs of the residents are able to be procured and utilised to improve their health and well-being. This is often done by ensuring that residents have regular access, through brokerage of services, to optical, medical, dental, and physical treatments from local, qualified practitioners. It can also mean making sure that the resident's clothing and footwear is adequate for the cold climate of our region. With approximately 150 residents within the Shire being housed in two LRCFs there is a great need to ensure that their health, both physical and emotional is maintained and, if possible, improved while they remain in the Wingecarribee Shire. Often the community in which they reside is their only family and, for many, the LRCF in which they reside in has been their only stable home for many years. The Bowral Mental Health Service (and the residents) have indeed been fortunate to be able to work closely with the local LRCF Case Worker, who is also a registered nurse (RN). Being an RN has meant that physical conditions and illnesses have been more quickly identified and the appropriate treatment initiated more rapidly with the best outcome achieved for the resident. The local DAD&HC Case Worker prides herself in being able to deliver the best possible "teeth and toes" service to her residents. Similarly the Bowral Community Mental Health Service is appreciative of the collaborative work done by the LRCF Case Worker in assisting with the provision of the optimal mental health service to the residents. Often, an earlier intervention is possible when the first signs of of an emerging mental illness are identified by the Case Worker. This, and the participation of the local general practitioners in the LRCF scheme, makes it easier to provide a much more timely response to the mental health issues presenting in a resident. The positive outcomes for the residents are plain to see. The positive outcomes for the staff of the Bowral Mental Health Service are also obvious, with less residents becoming acutely unwell and requiring hospitalisation. On the other hand, more residents are are being referred to the local Bowral Hospital with chronic physical conditions that require treatment. Many such conditions in past times would have been easily overlooked. This, in itself, indicates the value of the program in achieving the performance indicators it has been set, namely: maintaining and improving the health and well-being of the residents.