New foster care model trialled Fireys offer MORNINGTON Peninsula and Frankston foster carers may soon have the opportunity to transform the way vulnerable children and young people are supported under a new model of foster care. Under the internationally-recognised model, professionalised foster carers will be trained to provide intensive support for children and young people who experience significant emotional or behavioural problems. The state government is investing
$5.6 million to trial a ‘Treatment Foster Care Oregon’ program, which supports the state’s child protection and family services system and aims to keep young people out of residential care. Professionalised foster carers will work with at least 28 children over two years, under the guidance of a team of practitioners who provide weekly training and support. More than $20 million for nine specific initiatives will be tested in southern Victoria.
OzChild and Anglicare Victoria will recruit and train carers to deliver the program in the bayside, peninsula and southern Melbourne areas. There will be at least 14 new, professionalised foster care placements a year, with OzChild to focus on children aged 7-11 years and Anglicare working with young people aged 12-18 years. The model has been successful in New York, where figures show it has reduced the number of children and young people in residential care.
State Families and Children Minister Jenny Mikakos said the model has the potential to completely transform the way vulnerable children and young people are supported, with “life-changing impact�. Anglicare Victoria CEO Paul McDonald said it was expected that the majority of children and young people would be reunited with their families, where safe, or supported to reach their full potential “with loving kinship or foster care families�.
Zombies unleashed on line Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au IF you see hordes of shambling bloodsplattered hordes near train stations in the next few weeks there may be no need to call police or protective services officers for help. The mob may be dressed and made up as zombies as part of an independent short movie project called Benedict being filmed in Melbourne and its suburbs. It’s a ghoulish sight familiar to fans of TV show The Walking Dead but is slightly less common along the Frankston line. Zombies shuffled along to Mordialloc on a Sunday morning last month (18 September) to film some scenes under the railway bridge next to Mordialloc Creek. Bonbeach actor Rick Vaveliuk, 38, was one of the few, in his role as the titular Benedict, not infected by a zombie plague so still had the brainssss to tell The News about filming at Mordialloc for the spin-off prequel from another independent film due for release next year called The Last Hope. “The scene was set in Europe where the outbreak begins so it’s six months before the events in The Last Hope,� he said. “It was an escape scene at the train station so that’s why we used the tunnel and that part of Mordialloc because it fit the setting perfectly.� He said there were about 30 people on the makeshift set, “mostly zombies and a few civilians�. Approval for the early morning shoot was approved by Kingston Council, police, emergency services and Metro Trains. “Everyone was very helpful,� Vaveliuk said. The actor says he also shot scenes in Mentone, Brunswick and Doveton and “I’m spitting out all these little short
movies for practice�. A shorter version of Benedict is online on YouTube now and the scene filmed at Mordialloc will be added to “an extended director’s cut�. Benedict’s big brother film feature The Last Hope, written and directed by St Kilda resident Leigh Ormsby, is a zombie tale with a modern Australian twist. The film’s synopsis reveals: “The world has been devastated by the virus that has reanimated the dead to consume the living. Australia has so far remained unscathed through a brutal border protection policy and internment facilities.� As is the custom in such films, all hell breaks loose, this time due to the arrival of “a mysterious girl� and an uprising at a detention centre. “Will Australia, the last hope for many, finally fall?� the synopsis asks. The short film was partly financed by its makers via Pozible crowdfunding campaigns. Its modest budget aims to take some sharp shots at Australia’s and is billed as “a metaphor for everyone who sees Australia for what it is.� “For Australians, our country is a beacon of hope for many due to our high living standards, the fact we are so connected to the world, yet so isolated. “For anyone who lives here, there is hope that you can become someone. For people wishing to live here, Australia is a land of hope and freedom. But what happens when that hope is stripped away for both those wanting to come here and for those that already living here? “Also, zombies are cool and who doesn’t love a good zombie film?!� Benedict and The Last Hope will both be released like a zombie virus next year and its makers hope they spread quickly online. See @filmthelasthope page on Facebook for further information.
heart help
FIREFIGHTERS will be assisting paramedics at Frankston, Rosebud and Patterson River after the launch of an initiative to boost emergency responses to heart attack calls. The three stations are among five to receive the new Emergency Medical Response (EMR) program, which will also operate at Pakenham and Traralgon. Data from Ambulance Victoria shows the number of Victorians suffering heart attacks increased to a ten-year high last year. Firefighters at the five fire stations will now be dispatched to respond to triple zero calls for heart attack and non-breathing patients at the same time as paramedics. CFA and Ambulance Victoria trialled the program in 2011 and found it significantly improved response times and helped increase survival rates of heart attack patients. The five stations have been upgraded with emergency medical response equipment and defibrillators have been installed in the fire trucks. The firefighters have received specialist training to provide basic life support and give CPR. The EMR program at all 35 integrated CFA stations around the state, with 15 integrated stations now providing emergency medical responses. It is also in operation in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, which has successfully provided the critical first responder services since 2000. Emergency Services Minister James Merlino and Ambulance Services Minister Jill Hennessey visited the Frankston Fire Station on Monday (3 October) to launch the service. Mr Merlino said training firefighters to respond to heart attacks will help support paramedics and deliver faster emergency medical response times for growing communities.
Families expo
Up zombie creek: Rick Vaveliuk, top left, with a zombie mob assembled for the filming of a short movie in Mordialloc. Picture: Gary Sissons
A ‘PENINSULA pregnancy, bubs and kids expo’ is on Sunday, 16 October. There will be guest appearances to entertain the kids from The Kazoos and The Big Brown Bear, Toby the T-Rex and author Jemma Phillips. In addition, there’s non-stop fun with a jumping castle, animal farm, roving characters, face painting and more. The expo will be at the Flinders Christian Community College in Bollarto Rd, Carrum Downs, 10am4pm. Enquiries: pbkexpo@gmail.com
New generation TOP-UP hearing aids now FREE* E Eligible pensioners and veterans aare entitled to FREE hearing aaids through the government’s hearing services scheme*, or h they can pay extra (TOP-UP) for th hearing aids with additional or h more advanced features or for a m smaller size. sm As an EXCLUSIVE A SPECIAL OFFER, Hidden S Hearing is providing eligible H pensioners and veterans p
with certain TOP-UP hearing aids incorporating the latest generation technology FREE OF CHARGE until the END OF NOVEMBER. The choice is yours, either a discreet deep canal aid or a miniature receiver in canal aid. In both cases the aids will be small and discreet, and programmed to \RXU VSHFLÂżF KHDULQJ OHYHOV DQG unique personal needs. www.hiddenhearing.com.au
CALL NOW to book your FREE hearing assessment and start hearing better again.
FREE CALL
1800 717 717
*Conditions and eligibility requirements apply under the Commonwealth Hearing Services Voucher System. Offer ends November 30, 2016.
BLAIRGOWRIE • DROMANA • MORNINGTON • ROSEBUD • SEAFORD • TOORAK Frankston Times 10 October 2016
PAGE 13