Service award delivery

By Kath Gannaway
A PROGRAM which makes antenatal care accessible to young mums in the Yarra Valley has been recognised in the 2006 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards.
The Antenatal Outreach Service (AOS) run by the Yarra Valley Community Health Service – Eastern Health, won the Innovation in Access to Healthcare category.
The service, set up in July 2005, provides expectant women with clinical care and education on what to expect in pregnancy and labour, what it is going to be like after the baby is born and about parenting.
“We knew there was a need for the service because of the number of women presenting for delivery at public hospitals who had had little or no antenatal care during their pregnancy,” AOS midwife Jill Hunter said.
The service is based in Yarra Junction and caters for the Healesville and Upper Yarra areas.
“For women up here (Upper Yarra) it’s very difficult to access antenatal care. To get to the Angliss hospital in Ferntree Gully or to Box Hill can take half a day, and it’s expensive,” Ms Hunter said.
“Some of our mums have children and not everybody drives or has access to a car.
“Also, when we set it up 18 months ago there was no bulk billing up here.”
New mum Simone Cremer said she recommended the service.
“If I hadn’t had this here it would have been really hard,” she said.
“My partner works all day so travelling alone, having to drive all that way to the Angliss, would have been very difficult.”
The award was presented by Health Minister Bronwyn Pike.
She said of the 21 women who had used the service, more than half were under 21 years old, 86 per cent had limited access to transport, 80 per cent were from low income families and 76 per cent were socially isolated.
“That’s why the Antenatal Outreach Service is so important and has been recognised in these prestigious awards,” Ms Pike said.
Funding for the program finishes in June 2007.