Child & Youth Health

Since 2020, the WQPHN has provided funding for BUSHkids to deliver the Healthy Outback Kids program. Currently operational in Cunnamulla, this initiative employs a service model that leverages existing community resources and strengths to enhance outcomes for children. BUSHkids delivers developmental screenings, assessments, and interventions for children within the community, supplemented by ongoing telepractice support. Families can opt for telepractice sessions facilitated by BUSHkids’ equipment, conveniently stationed at the local daycare center or accessible from their homes. Moreover, BUSHkids has cultivated partnerships with cultural community stakeholders and the Cunnamulla Aboriginal Corporation for Health (CACH) to offer comprehensive support to children, families, and the broader community.

Central to BUSHkids’ approach is its clinical team, which includes Occupational Therapists and Speech Pathologists, with access to consultation from other allied health professionals. We prioritise early intervention to optimise outcomes for children and families, emphasizing community capacity-building through support and education for parents, early childhood educators, and other key stakeholders.

The Big Buddy Program was developed to break the vicious cycle of poverty and disadvantage through a youth program designed to create intergenerational change. The key to this strategy is to empower our youth to achieve their full potential and thrive from participating in the programs’ planned activities.

WQPHN funds Goondir Health Services to deliver the Big Buddy Program within the South West communities of St George, Dirranbandi and surrounding towns. The four domains of the program provided by Goondir staff include:

1. Promoting Life Skills: events management, exposure to small business, improving self-worth, and catering and budgeting skills.
2. Mentorship: pairing youth with role models, utilising high profile people.
3. Education: homework support, accredited training, support with awareness of and assist with traineeship / scholarship applications, and improving health literacy.
4. Improving Social Interaction: After school activities, discos and sporting / cultural events, and other events.

Teddy Bear Care is a health education promotion initiative designed to foster awareness of the benefits associated with healthy habits for primary school children. Supported by WQPHN, along with generous in-kind donations of teddy bears from the Royal Flying Doctor Service (Queensland Section), this initiative aims to instill positive health behaviours in children.

Originally conceived as a health and wellbeing program for students from prep to year six, particularly in response to the low uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in this age group, Teddy Bear Care employs engaging, play-based activities alongside the use of RFDS teddy bears to impart crucial health concepts. The program encompasses various aspects of wellness, including promoting healthy hygiene habits, providing information on maintaining healthy bodies and minds, and reinforcing positive lifestyle choices.

After an initial trial period in multiple sites in Mount Isa the previous year, the Teddy Bear Care program expanded its reach in 2022-2023, successfully implementing its curriculum in five schools within the region.