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Health and Education
Monday 5 July in Kerang
On Monday 5th July, twenty participants
in the Loddon Murray Community Leadership Program (LMCLP) converged on
Kerang to gain an insight into some health and education issues in
regional communities.
The day commenced with a presentation
on Mental Health First Aid conducted by Sue Stewart from Redesdale. As a
LMCLP graduate and volunteer working in the childcare, disability and aged
care sector, Sue addressed the importance of Mental Health First Aid, the
support required, and some of the signs to recognize.
Louise Bewley found this session most
valuable being a member of the Wedderburn Community Emergency Response
Team. “We are trained to respond to medical first aid and provide
treatment to physical signs and symptoms, yet not all our call outs are
due to physical illness.”
 Constable
Andrew Neil from Kerang Police delivered a very empowering message to the
group on the “Alternative to Schoolies Week” community project. He spoke
about the humanitarian work that local Year 12 students do in Cambodia as
an alternative to the traditional schoolies week end of year celebrations.
Melinda Mann from Echuca was impressed.
“It was fantastic to hear about the local police and Rotary working with
young people to offer an alternative to schoolies that would provide some
real life lessons and inspire them in the future.”
“It is a credit to them,” Sue McLean
from Charlton agreed.
Nerida Dye, Kerang Library Manager,
spoke about “Libraries in Education” providing a great insight into how
libraries operate around the world, right down to how local libraries
operate within our region. “Libraries are now more than a place to borrow
books,” Nerida said.
The group was pleased to see how far
services have progressed and what is now available to people and their
communities in their local library.
As part of a skills development
workshop, Kerry Anderson from Castlemaine shared her vast experience in
event management giving the participants an insight onto the highs and
lows of managing community events.
Kerang participant, Brent Heitbaum, was
pleased to showcase his local shire and organized an impromptu visit to
the art space Nejakarto. A discussion on the value of art in regional
communities was a valuable preview to the next program days to be held in
Swan Hill on the 25th and 26th July.
"Gallery owner Jane Sommersby spoke
about some interesting artist led initiatives overseas working in
partnership with farmers - food for thought for our regional communities,”
said Brent.
Participants in the Loddon Murray
Community Leadership Program travelled to Kerang from across ten shires in
the north-central region of Victoria. The group is now past the midway
mark of their twenty-four program days exploring a wide range of regional
issues and developing community leadership skills. Applications open for
the 2011 program in September.
This story was prepared by Jacinta
Hicks |
