West Gippsland Healthcare Group webpage
The Drouin office of the West Gippsland Healthcare Group community services are co-located with the Baw Baw Shire community services and Veterans Affairs.
The WGHG services at this site are: CDAMS, Southwest Regional Post Acute Care, Rural Allied Health team (Social work, podiatry, physio, OT, dietician), Regional Continence service, District Nursing clinics, and Diabetes clinics.
Some of the Baw Baw Shire services are Day programs including a Koori Day program, Homecare, meals on wheels, in-home respite, & volunteer visiting and transport.
The CDAMS team sees people from across Gippsland with memory and thinking problems. This is a diagnostic program. With the permission of the patient, the family is included in the diagnostic process from the outset. The multidisciplinary team in CDAMS consists of a full time nurse manager, a part time assessment nurse, a geriatrician, 2 psychiatrists and 2 neuropsychologists. Recruiting of another geriatrician is in progress. There is some clerical assistance.
The diagnostic model includes a home visit by the nurse, specialist clinic consultations in Drouin, Bairnsdale and Korumburra, and a family feedback meeting.
The CDAMS works very closely with the patient’s own GP, and provides referrals to community services if required.
Placement Details
- What makes some carers more resilient in the face of the sadness and challenges of caring for a loved one with dementia? (ie. Services used, family togetherness, ethnicity, behaviours of the person with dementia, professional background, male or female carer or multiple carers, type of cognitive problem etc)
- How to measure resilience or likely future resilience.
- What would assist in developing carer capacity?
- Are services in Gippsland making a difference for carers?
- What are the barriers to access to services in Gippsland?
The project would require an initial literature search, the gaining of ethics approval from WGHG and Monash, followed by development of methodology for determining carer resilience. This would be qualitative assessment which might include carer interviews and/or forums. The student would be linked to perhaps 3 carers of patients who have a diagnosis. The project would be expected to develop a tool for early assessment of carer vulnerability and a report indicating what services, planners, communities and carers themselves could do to build resilience capacity.
The project would be expected to have a Gippsland focus, but the outcomes may be applicable to rural Victoria in general.
Placement Parameters
The student would be expected to take initiative in developing the project in consultation with CDAMS and other WGHG community services staff. Some supervision would be provided in terms of accessing the clients and conducting interviews, but the student would be expected to develop their own tasks.
Hours would be negotiable, generally week day office hours, but some evenings may be necessary if it suits the carer.
The student would be expected to develop interviewing skills with carers and family members of varying ages would develop an understanding of community care options, being part of a multidisciplinary team, and of dementia and diagnosis.
Selection Criteria
The student would require a mature and genuine interest in older people and families
Ability to empathise important
Ability to conduct a literature search, gather qualitative data and interpret results, develop a tool for assessment of resilience
Ability to learn from and work with a multidisciplinary team
Location: 33 Young Street, Drouin
Contact Person: Elizabeth Fraser, Manager cognitive Dementia and Memory Service
Phone: 5625 0242
Places Filled: 0/2 |
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