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President's Report

This is an exciting time for CFA VIC and the Victorian Continence Resource Centre (VCRC). With the new CFAN funding for a full time Health Promotion Officer we  have added capacity to build on existing programs and to foster new initiatives. We welcome Lauren Jordan to this position and look forward to her participation at VCRC. We are  also hopeful that this new appointment will provide an opportunity to consolidate a closer collaborative working relationship with CFAN and help inject new life into the Victorian membership.

In addition, we are now advertising to appoint a continence clinician to our team at VCRC. The position will be part time 0.4EFT and will add capacity to our education and awareness programs. Please encourage any suitable clinicians you know to apply as this will greatly add to the effectiveness of the VCRC.

The Awareness of Incontinence in Ethnic Communities report prepared by the VCRC had an impressive launch on May 12. We will have further engagement with CALD communities in 2011/12 to build on this report and develop new initiatives.

Other highlights have been our involvement in World Continence Week 2011 and Pelvic Floor First; development of One Step at a Time Easy Read Guide to Toilet Training ; our involvement with CFAN re Continence in Schools; ongoing Simply Busting – Community Education Seminars and further Water for Wellbeing education sessions with practice nurses. We will also once again have a booth at the Parents, Babies and Children’s Expo, October 22 – 24, organised and manned by CFA VIC Physiotherapists.

Notably, the committee plan to host a one day state conference/study day in Bendigo in May 2012 as a response to providing more accessible educational opportunities for rural continence health professionals and to bring the Victorian continence community together. We are looking forward to the support of Victorian members to make this day a success.

The VCRC has secured a further 3 year renewal of the lease to remain located at Royal Talbot Rehabilitation Centre, Kew.

Thank you to fellow committee members and to the staff of the VCRC for their support.

Judy Sincock
President
CFA Victoria Committee of Management

AGM 12 October 5pm

CFA Victoria will be holding its AGM on Wednesday 12 October commencing 5 pm in the Seminar Room at St George’s Hospital Kew.

RSVP by 5 October 2011 T: 9816 8266 or

E: info@continencevictoria.org.au

As an incorporated organisation and to ensure good governance CFA Victorian Branch is required to have a committee of management. The role of the committee is to act on behalf of the members to achieve the mission, strategic goals and objectives of CFA Victoria. Oversight of the Victorian Continence Resource Centre is a key function of the committee.

We are looking for new members for the Committee to fill vacant positions. Please consider nominating for one of these positions your contribution will assist in keeping CFA Victoria relevant to its members and contributing to the community..

AGM Guest speaker
Christine Murray

Uganda – A different Christmas Experience

Continenece Education Officer Position

VCRC is offering an exciting opportunity to be involved in promoting continence in Victoria

We are seeking a highly motivated clinician with continence management experience to join our team. The focus of the position is community and health worker education about the prevention, treatment and management of bladder and bowel control problems. You will be working on a variety of projects that promote continence within the community and other settings.

Key selection criteria:

Nursing or Allied Health clinical qualification degree with professional experience in continence management.

Proven experience in consumer education

Able to work independently and as part of a team

Able to establish and maintain sustainable working relationship with key stakeholders and consumer groups.

Part time 16 hours per week

View position description here

Enquires & Applications to Susan McCarthy Manager VCRC on
9816 8266 or email susan.mccarthy@continencevictoria.org.au

Closing date: 3 October 2011

Welcome Lauren Jordan Health Promotion Officer

Lauren commenced in her role as Health Promotion Officer at VCRC on 25 July. This position is funded through the Bladder Bowel Collaborative contract CFA National has secured from DoHA .

She previously worked in the health promotion field with Diabetes Victoria on the ‘Life!’ program and the Victorian State Government on the ‘Go for your life’ initiative.

In 2010 she completed her studies in Health Promotion at Deakin University and is looking forward to working on community projects at the resource centre as well as working with the other Health Promotion Officers in each State.

In the short time Lauren has been with us she has organised two community education events to be held later this year and managed our information stand at a couple of events.

Farewell Deborah Manning Health Promotion Officer

We said farewell Deborah Manning who has worked at VCRC as the inaugural Health Promotion Office for the past 3 years.

Deborah has taken up a full time position with RDNS so whilst she has left us we see her often as she just move office from the front to the back of the building!

Deborah made a significant contribution to the work of VCRC during her 3 years with us in particular the Water for Wellbeing and the Continence in Ethnic Communities project. This latter project is an important piece of work that has added to our understanding of the needs of CALD communities and how we can better target information to meet their needs.

Awareness of Incontinence in Ethnic Communities

A recommendation from the Awareness of Incontinence in Ethnic Communities project was to deliver ongoing professional development opportunities for staff and volunteers to enhance their knowledge and skills in supporting clients experiencing incontinence. The first such event was held in July.  We conducted a very successful professional development seminar Awareness of incontinence in ethic communities: supporting people who are experiencing incontinence – what is your role? 49 health and community workers attended, including case managers, community nurses, HACC assessment officers and workers from ethno specific agencies. The feedback from the seminar was very positive with 71% rating the seminar very good and 29 % good.

We will conduct this seminar again and will submit it to the HACC training calendar.

A fact sheet has been developed providing a summary of the key findings from the project and a quick reference guide to incontinence information available in other languages.

Work has commenced on the next phase of the project implementation of the recommendations. This will involve the following activities:

Translate Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits into Polish, Russian and Simplified Chinese using the RDNS Translation Standards.

Review of the translated Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits with regard to accuracy of translation and appropriateness. This review will be guided by the RDNS Translation Standards.

Develop key messages about continence and incontinence to raise awareness about incontinence and continence problems amongst CALD communities.

Working with the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Aged Care on the development of a seminar that will be conducted across Australia.

Assist with the development of a glossary of translated incontinence terms to improve the quality of translations and interpretation. This work will be overseen by the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Aged Care.

Our abstract has been accepted as a podium presentation at the National Conference on Incontinence 2011. The presentation will detail the findings of the Awareness of Incontinence in Ethnic Communities report and the recommendations.

Easy English Guide to Toilet Training

The Easy English Guide to Toilet Training has been completed. This guide is aimed at parents with low English reading proficiency whoose child has special needs. We found it challenging to write the material – what to leave out was particularly difficult. Piloting the Guide proved very challenging too as we were seeking parents’ feedback rather than hearing what health professionals thought.

Thank you all those health professionals who helped us in this endeavour. The Guide will be up on our website by the end of September: www.continencevictoria.org.au

We plan to launch it across Australia as a companion to One step at a time: A parent’s guide to toilet skill development for children with special needs.

VCRC out and about: Professional Development

Two Water for Wellbeing sessions are booked in the HACC Training Calendar for the Northern and Southern regions in this semester  We are having on-going discussions with HACC training co-ordinators regarding other opportunities to conduct other training programs.

We have been invited to present at the Practice Nurses Clinical Education Conference in November. This is another great opportunity to talk with Practice Nurses about their role in assisting clients with continence issues. We anticipate this will lead to further opportunities to working with this group of health professionals.

VCRC out and about: Community Education: Simply Busting

Simply Busting – Sunshine West – BOOK NOW!

VCRC will be conducting another ‘Simply Busting’ community education sessions in West Sunshine on Friday October 7.

This free education session provides a fun and informal opportunity to learn more about bladder and bowel control. Participants will be given tips on how to prevent control problems and how these problems can be treated.

VCRC would like to thank the Brimbank City Council Community Grants for the grant funding to undertake the education session.

Please promote the event amongst your clients and networks, particularly if they live in the City of Brimbank or surrounding areas.

Download the session flyer or poster here.

For further enquiries or to register please contact us at VCRC on 9816 8266.

VCRC out and about: Community Education:Fun Fitness and the Pelvic Floor

Fun Fitness and the Pelvic Floor in Moonee Valley!

Due to the success of the event run in World Continence Week, the VCRC will be running a ‘Fun Fitness and the Pelvic Floor’ community education session for the women of Moonee Valley!

This interactive information session is to be held in Moonee Ponds on Wednesday November 9 from 7pm-9pm, providing a fun and informal opportunity for women to learn more about their pelvic floor!

We would like to thank the Moonee Valley City Council Community Grants program for the funding to run this session.

Please promote this event amongst your clients and networks, particularly if they live in the City of Moonee Valley or surrounding areas. Download the session flyer or poster here.

For further enquiries or to register please contact us at VCRC on 9816 8266.

School Toilet Furore @ Kew Primary School

A new toilet policy trialed by Kew Primary School hit the news headlines. The policy was that the entire class had to go to the toilet if one child needed to go during a lesson. Children were encouraged to hold on rather than disrupt the class. One child wet herself at her front door, when asked said 'I'm holding on, I didn't want the whole class to have to come with me to the toilet.'

In a media release ‘School Toilet Problems – A Whole Class of Their Own’ CFA pointed out not only was this approach humiliating for the child but could predispose children to potential long term consequences for bladder and bowel problems.

The Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits in School project is a major initiative of CFA. A key aim of the project is to improve toilet standards in schools across Australia. The school toilets- both their cleanliness and children’s access to school toilets was highlighted at the original stakeholder’s forum as an urgent issue that needed to be addressed. Children regularly avoid going to the toilet at school because these facilities are often dirty, smelly and a common place were bullying occurs.Toilet Tactics kit has been designed for Australian Primary Schools to help raise awareness of healthy bladder and bowel habits amongst teachers, parents/guardians and children, and to improve or maintain the standard of school toilets.

Toilet Tactics is based on the concept of the Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence (ERIC), Bog Standard http://www.bog-standard.org/. The kit contains information for teachers, parents and students on bladder and bowel health, a simple step by step guide on how to improve school toilets and a guide for schools to write a school toilet charter should they choose to.

Toilet Tactics will be piloted across ten South Australia and Victorian primary schools  in September 2011, with the kit being made available nationally in 2012.

The Healthy Bladder and Bowel Habits in Schools project will form the theme for World Continence Week in June 2012 so look out for more information in future updates about ways you can get involved!

Read the media release here and follow the links to the Age articles on 12 August and 23 August

Dates for your diary:

Daytime Bladder Dysfunction in Children Workshop, Melbourne, 14 October 2011.

To register go to http://www.continence.org.au/events.php?id=45

National Conference on Incontinence Melbourne 17 -19 November.

Early bird registrations close 16 September. To register go to www.continence.org.au

CFA Victoria State Conference Bendigo 11 May 2012. Please put the date in your diary, more details soon!

Pregnancy Babies & Children's Expo - Help Needed

21st -23rd October 2011

Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Southbank

CFA has a stand at the Pregnancy Babies and Children’s Expo. This is a great opportunity to talk to women about pelvic floor and continence issues when they are very receptive in a relaxed and fun environment. It provides a great opportunity to reach a significant number of mothers.

Volunteers - including nurses, physios, and midwives are needed as the expo gets extremely busy, so we need your help!

If you are able to help out for a couple of hours on any of the these days contact Lesley to register on (03) 9816 8266 or email info@continencevictoria.org.au