News
A pilot project with the two-fold aim of improving the care provided to older people in aged care services, and improving the recruitment and retention of skilled workers in aged care services is the recipient of a $35,000 grant from the Trust.
To achieve these aims, researchers at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society at La Trobe University will develop and pilot a resource kit which fosters and rewards achievements in aged care services. In an engaging and creative process, aged care service providers and members of the general community will be invited to share stories of achievements on blank postcards. The positive responses to previous postcard projects indicate that the postcards will be a simple, creative, time efficient and appealing way to recognise and foster the achievements of aged care services. Common themes from the cards will be identified and shared with the Victorian public through project fliers. The project processes and tools will be packaged into the resource kit which will be available free of charge to all aged care services in Victoria.
By focussing on ‘what works’, rather than on problems, the process aims to stimulate and energise conversations and improvements. This focus on gathering information and making improvements is consistent with the processes for quality improvement which are central to aged care services.
www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs
A trial project involving the Victorian police providing 800 road crash victims (non-fatal) with information about the triage system offered by the Roads Trauma Support Services Victoria (RTSTV) has received a grant from the Trust. RTSTV is a unique not-for-profit state-wide counselling, education and support service for people who have been affected by road trauma.
Experience shows that when a fatal collision occurs, the resulting interest by the media and general public highlights the available support services. However, in other less prominent fatal collisions, and in the thousands of injury collisions each year, support is available but knowing who, where, when and how to access this support is difficult. In this trial, RTSTV aims to produce a short brochure outlining the support available which will be distributed to victims by police attending injury-related collisions.
The project seeks to ascertain whether earlier intervention will have the potential to reduce the long term impact on victims, thus minimising their need to access support services and insurance and medical costs.
www.rtstv.org.au
Victoria is a hotspot for orchids, with over 400 unique species found nowhere else in the world. Over half are identified as threatened and will become extinct in the wild without immediate action. Researchers at RMIT’s Department of Applied Science are undertaking a three year study investigating whether fire is beneficial or detrimental to our native Victorian orchids, with the aim of saving the critically endangered Victorian Eastern spider orchid, and finding out how fire affects mycorrhizal fungi, which the orchids depend on for survival. The Helen Macpherson Smith Trust has provided a grant of $17,000 for costs in the second year of this $200,000 project.
Bushfires, controlled or wild, occur in orchid habitats but little is known of the effect of fire on native orchid populations and nothing is known of the effect of fire on mycorrhizal fungi. Without this information, threatened populations may become extinct and current conservation practices may be futile. Information gained in the study will be essential for improving land management practices, both locally and globally, in determining when and how often controlled burning should be conducted. Contributors to the project include the Royal Botanic Gardens (Melbourne), Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew, UK), Australian Native Orchid Society, Department of Sustainability & Environment, and the Arthur Rylah Institute.
The overall project will aim to extend beyond three years as a long term monitoring project by government and volunteer groups. With rising environmental concerns such as global climate change, drought and unpredictable wild bushfires, community awareness on the impact of land management practices on our native habitats will improve our understanding of the environment and its inhabitants. Ultimately, long term monitoring will be informative for resolving future environmental problems and can be applied to other flora and fauna communities.
www.rmit.edu.au