The Rural Health Academic Network is a University of Melbourne Department of Rural Health, health workforce initiative which partners directly with rural health organisations to:
- Build innovation in rural health care,
- Promote research translation into rural clinical practice ,
- Support rural health student placements
- Enhance retention of existing rural clinicians through post graduate research and education opportunities.
- Maintain and progress an evidence base which advances the rural health agenda.
Through a network of rural health academics placed in the local health services, RHAN coordinators work with clinicians from multiple disciplines by applying systematic enquiry and education to facilitate local clinical research in addition to collaborative network wide research. RHAN coordinators work closely with their respective health services in applying structures for ethical governance of research activity that embeds an evidenced based approach into practice. Through RHAN, rural health care practitioners have the support of the University and the University has direct links to the health services and the community.
RHAN projects and publications reflect the diversity of rural health and the individual clinical research and workforce priorities of our partner organisations.
RHAN Co Ordinator YDMH
Current Projects
The YDMH Saleyards Project
Yea and District Memorial Hospital Cattle Sale Clinics: How a Small Rural Hospital Redefined its Delivery of Care.
University of Melbourne Human Ethics Approval 2024-29330-56118-3
Grant Success for Yea Hospital
Yea and District Memorial Hospital has secured a$50,000 grant from the Violet Vines Marshman Centre. This funding will support the continued delivery of the successful Yea Saleyards Healthcare Program and potentially enable the replication of the model within the local community and across regional areas.
The Yea Saleyards Healthcare Program, developed by the Yea and District Memorial Hospital (YDMH) team in October 2023, aims to bring healthcare services to the farming and broader community. Over the past nine months, attendees at the sale have had access to a range of health services including skin, hearing and eyesight checks; cardiac health assessments; diabetes education; flu vaccinations; and mental health and drug and alcohol support program. These services are provided one Friday per month at the cattle sale. The program has exceeded expectations, prompting YDMH to seek funding to expand services at the Saleyards. A member of the local farming community described the value of the program – “We think we’re bulletproof and only see a doctor if we’re really crook, but you are right here under our noses at the sale – it’s a wonderful service.”
The Violet Vines Marshman Centre for Rural Health Research is embedded within the La Trobe Rural Health School. The Centre provides grant opportunities annually to short term projects that directly improve the health or well-being of people living in rural and remote locations.
The grant will fund additional specialist and allied health services as part of the existing program. It will also support a comprehensive evaluation through YDMH’s partnership with the University of Melbourne Rural Health Academic Network (RHAN), which will help develop a transferable healthcare model. Additionally, the grant will enable two trial programs within the local area and support the expansion of the program into other communities.
“Being awarded this prestigious and highly sought after grant really validates our Saleyards Program and will enable us to evaluate it, expand it and promote it to other organisations and regions to support farmers’ health and wellbeing more broadly” – Jennifer Keast, RHAN Researcher based at YDMH.
Pictured Left: Project manager Naomi McNamara, YDHM CEO Elizabeth Sinclair and RHAN Researcher Jennifer Keast.
The Innovative Model of Care Project: Our Community Our Children
Our Community Our Children Project – Murrindindi Shire
Grant funding success to trial outreach allied health clinics for young children in Murrindindi Shire
Working together Murrindindi Health and Community Services have partnered to successfully secure a $1.4 million Federal Government grant to fund the ‘Our Community Our Children’ project.
Yea and District Memorial Hospital, in collaboration with key partners Menzies Support Services, Alexandra District Health and the University of Melbourne Department of Rural Health, will led this four-year project which sees the placement of supervised final-year allied health students in six early learning sites (listed below) across Murrindindi Shire. The allied health students will deliver critical services such as developmental health screening, individual assessments, provision of information, service navigation support, referrals for children with additional needs, and education for parents and educators.
The initiative, funded by the Federal Government under its innovative Models of Care grant scheme, is one of 11 healthcare projects based in rural and remote Australia.
Access to Paediatric Allied Health Practitioners is very limited in our Shire and early education data reveals Murrindindi has a far higher percentage of children at risk of developmental delay than the rest of the State (Australian Early Childhood Census, 2021). The Our Community Our Children project aims to address this situation by improving access to allied health practitioners thereby supporting better outcomes for our children.
By increasing access to high-quality allied health services, we anticipate early detection and timely intervention for young children with key health and developmental challenges. It is anticipated this intervention will facilitate better preparedness for school and ultimately better educational outcomes.
The project team will work with community members to co-design the delivery of the services that are bespoke to local needs. The disciplines delivering services will be determined according to need but are likely include speech therapy, occupational therapy and other paediatric supports.
Operating from July 2024 to December 2027, the Our Community Our Children project will adopt a staged implementation approach across six communities, working closely with early years services across Murrindindi Shire, including:
- Yea – Yea Uniting Early Learning Centre
- Flowerdale – Flowerdale Kindergarten
- Kinglake – Kinglake Ranges Children’s Centre
- Alexandra – Alexandra Kindergarten
- Eildon – Eildon Kindergarten
- Marysville – Marysville Preschool and Kindergarten
An active partnership with the University of Melbourne Going Rural Health team has been established to schedule and coordinate student service learning placements to support student-led clinics in each community. Students will receive supervision and mentorship from qualified practitioners in their respective disciplines.