Weekly Update

Dear CRANAplus Members,

Bush Support Services (BSS) is excited to announce the addition of Internet based counselling that will be done via email. This is yet another way CRANAplus is striving to support remote health workers and their families.

As with all the BSS services, anonymity and confidentiality is guaranteed. All emails will be answered within 24 hours. If this form of counseling is convenient for you please email Annmaree Wilson at scp@crana.org.au

This week we held the first state representatives teleconference for 2010. The purpose of the state representative network is to provide CRANAplus members an avenue with which to bring issues to the board of directors. There are 17 representatives across the country that serve as a resource and conduit for members. You are encouraged to alert a representative from your state to the issues affecting you as a health professional. Your concerns will be relayed to the board of directors for consideration and action. All state representatives are listed on our website . You can generate an email from the website by clicking on an individuals name.

Our thoughts go out to those members caught up in the floods in Queensland and the impact of that on your day-to-day work and remind you of the support available to you through Bush Support Services.

Have a Great Week!

Cheers,
Anne-Marie Borchers
Business Manager, CRANAplus

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BSS Stress Buster Updates

Many of us enjoy escaping our own lives for a few hours with a good book.  Your friends at BSS would like to suggest a virtual bookclub as yet another way to prevent or alliviate the daily stress in our lives.  Checkout these resources for joining an online book club or forming your own.

onlinebookclub.org

Book club links and ideas

Project Updates

Cosy Blanket Project
We are thrilled to have received one completed blanket from Alison in the Torres Straits Islands. Check out the next issue of the CRANAplus Magazine for more details and a picture. THANK YOU ALISON!

Self-care Competition
Time is marching on, so hurry up with those registrations. Put your thinking caps on and have fun unwinding from the day-to-day hassles. Some of the entrants are treating the exercise as a weight loss plan as well. It's so easy, individuals can do their own thing or team up with others; groups in clinics and hospitals and even workers in aged care.

For more information and details check out the BSS website.

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Road Show Followup

In the coming weeks, CRANAplus staff member Vicki Gordon, will be following up with many of people and clinics she and Lenny Cooper visited on last year's CRANAplus Road Show. If you want to be proactive and schedule a time to talk with Vicki she can be contacted via email at vicki@crana.org.au or by calling 08-8959-1113.

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Meetings & Conferences

The 28th CRANAplus Conference
October 13-16, 2010
Adelaide, SA - Hotel Grand Chancellor

The Australian Practice Nurses Association 2nd Annual Conference 'Golden Opportunities'
May 6-8, 2010
Gold Coast, QLD - Royal Pines Resort

2010 Primary Health Care Research Conference
Primary health care research and health reform: Improving care
June 30-July 2, 2010
Darwin, NT

The 4th Asia Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Suicide Prevention
‘Suicide Prevention: A Dialogue Across Disciplines and Cultures’
17-20 November 2010
Brisbane, Qld

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Scholarships & Educational Opportunities

Mental Health First Aid
Course and instructors training available around Australia. This award-winning course is available nationally details can be found on there website.

Recovery from Trauma: What Works
The Rural Health Education Foundation's award winning Recovery from Trauma: What Works documentary will be broadcast on the Foundation's satellite network on the 16th March 2010.

Seminar to Address ’Time Bomb’ in Rural Health
Rural Health Leadership Seminar being held in Wollongong 8-10 April 2010.
Organisers of a national seminar for health students say it has been prompted by a demographic time bomb impacting rural health services.They say there is an urgent need to develop the leadership skills of a new generation of health professionals to fill the void that will be left by the retirement of ageing country doctors and other health workers.

CRANAplus/YNA Undergraduate Scholarships
Each year CRANAplus in partnership with Your Nursing Agency (YNA) offer a total of six $1000 scholarships. These scholarships are available to students who as part of their undergraduate course of study in a health discipline at an Australian University, undertake a remote location placement.

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Articles of Interest

OPENING OF THE NATIONAL CENTRE OF INDIGENOUS EXCELLENCE
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today officially opened the $50 million National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) in Redfern, Sydney.

PATIENTS’ ASSISTED TRAVEL MUST HAVE COMMONWEALTH SUPPORT
The Commonwealth Government’s ‘hands-off’ response to the Senate’s Inquiry into patient assisted travel schemes will bitterly disappoint people in rural and remote areas.

MEXICO DETECTS FIRST MUTATION OF SWINE FLU
Mexican officials say they have confirmed the first mutation of the A (H1N1) flu virus in a girl who survived the infection.

NON-SNIFFABLE FUEL FOR GOLDFIELDS
The Federal Government has announced funding of $2.3 million to roll out non-sniffable Opal fuel across Western Australia's Goldfields.

TRACHOMA CASTS SHADOW OVER ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES
A study has found that an eye disease that causes blindness is still a big problem in Indigenous communities.

CERVICAL CANCER 10 TIMES HIGHER IN ABORIGINES
High rates of cervical cancer among Indigenous women should be combated with increased services, a gynaecologist who used to work in remote Northern Territory communities says.

SCHOLARSHIPS GO TO ASPIRING OUTBACK TEACHERS
Several aspiring teachers from western Queensland were awarded a teaching scholarship at a Parliament House ceremony earlier this week.

SCRAP HOSPITAL REFORMS FOR 50/50 FUNDING, SAYS JOHN BRUMBY
The Commonwealth should re-employ a 50/50 funding model for hospitals instead of a broad takeover, Victorian Premier John Brumby says.

INTERIM MENTAL HEALTH BOSS APPOINTED
The head of the state's Drug and Alcohol Office will act as the interim boss of WA's new Mental Health Commission.

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