Hitting the road

Above (L to R): Fourth year podiatry student, Damir Metljak; UniSA Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Høj; Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler; Helping Hand Aged Care CEO, Ian Hardy.

By Stephen Easton

Helping Hand Aged Care have put University of South Australia (UniSA) nursing and allied health students in a van and sent them on the road, to give them valuable experience working with older people and provide much-needed health services to older people in rural and regional areas.

The specially fitted out campervan-style vehicle began operating as a mobile health clinic last week, and will based at Helping Hand’s Port Pirie facility, taking students of physiotherapy, podiatry, pharmacy, occupational therapy and nursing to parts of South Australia’s Northern Areas Districts.

According to Helping Hand’s CEO, Ian Hardy, the mobile clinic is a key element of a partnership between the university and the aged care provider, and will offer students “interprofessional learning opportunities in an aged care setting”.

“Students are gaining experience in a wide variety of areas such as rehabilitation, nutrition, medication management and [the use of] equipment and aids. Most importantly, the students are participating in providing services under supervision in residential and community settings, in the city and rurally,” Mr Hardy said.

Dean of Health and Clinical Education at UniSA, Professor Esther May, praised the partnership with Helping Hand, saying that healthcare professionals were becoming increasingly reliant on each other’s disciplines.

“Therefore,” she said, “it has become necessary that professionals from various health disciplines collaborate with one another, to draw out the strengths of each discipline and deliver high-quality health care services to the general populace, especially older people.”

“As of today, through this project, 98 UniSA students have been fortunate enough to experience their clinical placements in aged care across approximately 2000 placement days with Helping Hand Aged Care. Eighteen students have also been provided with first-hand experience in working as health care professionals in the rural and regional aged care environment.

“These rural placements offer students insight into the challenges faced by health professionals in these regions. With the launch of this regional mobile clinic, it is anticipated that these numbers will increase exponentially, with the eventual objective to create equitable access to health services for rural and remote communities.”

The mobile health clinic was funded through a grant from the Department of Health and Ageing, and was officially launched last week by the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, at a morning tea on the lawns of the University of South Australia’s City East Campus.