HEALTH NEWS 11
TORRES NEWS THURSDAY 10 AUGUST 2023
CEQ nutritionist ready to take on store-driven healthy eating BY JEN ENOSA & CHRISTINE HOWES Retail operator Community Enterprise Queensland (CEQ) has appointed a new Store Nutritionist to help further drive healthier eating in remote Cape York and Torres Strait Islands communities. Georgia Day will work closely with CEQ Nutrition and Wellbeing Manager Melinda Hammond as the organisation prepared to release its 2023-2027 Nutrition and Wellbeing Strategy in the coming weeks. Georgia was appointed to lead the Gather and Grow Healthy Stores project, a partnership with Health and Wellbeing Queensland, and work alongside remote store teams to improve the position of healthy food options and make it easier for customers to purchase. Georgia said she was passionate about nutrition and improving the health outcomes of people living in remote and rural communities. “I’m delighted to have joined CEQ and am really enjoying getting to know the communities, building relationships, and getting as much feedback and knowledge as I can,” she said. “My role is focused on in-store environments and promoting health and wellbeing by encouraging customers towards healthier choices. “My passion is creating healthenabling food environments. “I‘m excited to be a part of implementing long-lasting and positive changes within CEQ that will support community aspirations for health.”
Georgia Day. Pic supplied. Ms Hammond said they were keen to drive a nutrition and wellbeing strategy for the stores. “The company is really changing direction and very much interested in our new vision which is ‘caring everyday always’,” she said. “A big part of that is caring about the health and wellbeing of the communities we service, so I’m developing a nutrition and wellbeing team that will work with our store group and bring healthy choices to consumers, making it easier for people in the Torres Strait to keep their families healthy. “In a few weeks time we will be releasing a four-year nutrition and wellbeing strategy which will talk about what our commitments are to the communities we service and the sort of work we’ll be doing with our stores to make them healthy stores.”
Ms Hammond said Georgia’s appointment in the Store Nutritionist role showed CEQ’s commitment to healthy choices for its customers. “We do take our social responsibility seriously in improving the overall health and wellbeing of the communities we serve, and we are very proactive in that space,” she said. “We’re confident that Georgia will drive change and healthier choices across our stores.” She said they were also seeking to appoint a First Nations Nutrition Cadet to work alongside Georgia in a travelling role to promote healthy eating and increase nutrition capacity in CEQ stores, particularly with staff, who were 90 per cent local. “We can work with those store teams to strengthen the nutrition knowledge and health knowledge and then they can then pass that on to their family and community members,” she said. “So that part of our work is not just working on what products are in the store. “We put all the healthy products in prominent locations. “We work on price, making the healthier choice is cheaper than the unhealthy options. “We also work on lots of promotions – cooking demonstrations, the posters, the material on our digital screens. “So that’s work that the cadet and Georgia will do.” For more information, visit www.
Feds boost funding for regional junior doctor program
BY CARLI WILLIS A new Commonwealth-funded junior doctor rotation program will further boost doctor numbers across regional and rural Queensland, Queensland Health says. In a statement to Torres News, the federal Department of Health and Aged care said rotations had increased yearon-year nationally, with 440 rotations in 2022 expected to increase to 800 in 2025. Under the new consolidated structure, the state was set to receive an increase in funds of more than $800,000 per year.
Previous programs – the Rural Junior Doctors Training and Innovation Fund (RJDTIF) and RJDTIF Rural Generalists in Queensland programs – were not administered by Queensland Health. Under the new John Flynn Prevocational Doctor Program junior doctors would be administered by Queensland Hospital and Health Services, and would complete their rotation at a rural private General Practice or approved primary care facility. Queensland Health said doctor numbers for the Torres and Cape would be finalised by the end of August.
ceqld.org.au
TCHHS PUPS team finalists in national pallative care awards The Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service’s (TCHHS) Pop-Up Palliative Care Service, known as the PUPS team, has been named as a finalist in the 2023 National Palliative Care Awards. The team, pictured from left – Kate Richardson, Vesta Sexton and Charlene McCall – will find out if they are winners in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Aboriginal or
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Torres Strait Islander Palliative Care in Sydney in September. “The dedicated TCHHS PUPS team transitioned from a project to a service in the past year and have seen ongoing success in the delivery of their consumer driven Model of Care,” a TCHHS spokesperson told the Torres News. “Congratulations to the team on becoming finalists.” Pic supplied.
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