Aurora TV, now available through the digital versions of Austar, Foxtel and Optus TV, will show the four programs, which all highlight successful community initiatives for promoting good health, twice each during February 2009.

The programs, which will air on Sunday and Friday evenings, are Start Strong, Grow Strong, Keep Safe and Indigenous Mental Health: An Interview with Professor Ernest Hunter.

Aurora broadcast details

Start Strong (26 mins)

Sunday 1st February at 9.30pm (AEST)

Friday 6th February at 7.30pm (AEST)

Grow Strong (26 mins)

Sunday 8^th February at 9.30pm (AEST)

Friday 13^th February at 7.30pm (AEST)

Keep Safe (26 mins)

Sunday 15^th February at 9.30pm (AEST)

Friday 20^th February at 7.30pm (AEST)

Indigenous Mental Health: An Interview with Professor Ernest Hunter (16 mins)

Sunday 22^nd February at 9.30pm (AEST)

Friday 27^th February  at 7.30pm (AEST)

Programs emphasise positive outcomes

Start Strong (airing on Sunday February 1^st and Friday February 6^th) and Grow Strong (Sunday February 8^th and Friday February 13^th) are both half-hour programs which showcase community-based initiatives designed to combat some of the poor birth outcomes and early health problems experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  Start Strong and Grow Strong were filmed at the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service, Daruk Aboriginal Medical Service, Jirnani Childcare Centre on Bathurst Island (NT), and the Strong Women Strong Babies Strong Culture program in Darwin.

Keep Safe (Sunday February 15^th and Friday February 20^th), another half-hour program, offers successful models and ideas for injury prevention in Indigenous communities. Projects examined include the Hermannsburg (NT) Night Patrol, the Top End Women’s Legal Service (Darwin) and the Western Australian water safety initiative Watch the Kids.

The final Foundation program in the series, Indigenous Mental Health: An Interview with Professor Ernest Hunter (Sunday February 22^nd and Friday February 27^th), is a 16-minute discussion with mental health specialist Professor Ernest Hunter about the serious challenges facing Indigenous mental health in Australia.

As broadcasts grow, reception remains strong

The first three of the four Foundation programs airing for a second time on Aurora have already been shown several times on SBS-TV, and have garnered a positive critical reception from independent reviewers.  For example, Pat Brodie, National President of the Australian College of Midwives, describes Start Strong as “an essential program for all midwives, nurses, Aboriginal health workers and medical staff.”

The four programs premiered on the Foundation’s own national satellite broadcast network in 2007.

Foundation welcomes repeat airings

“We’re thrilled that Aurora has decided to re-broadcast these Foundation programs to its viewers across Australia’s three major digital subscription television platforms,” says Don Perlgut, CEO of the Rural Health Education Foundation. “Aurora’s new broadcasts will not only bring these programs to a wider range of viewers, but also make them more accessible to our core audience of Indigenous communities and rural & remote health professionals.”

Available on DVD and the web

DVD copies of the four programs are available for purchase from the Foundation.

The Foundation’s website also provides the four programs for viewing via video web-streaming or listening via an audio podcast, both free of charge.

Program funding

Start Strong and Grow Strong were funded by an untied educational grant from Merck Sharp & Dohme with additional funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and the Ian Potter Foundation.  Keep Safe was funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing

More information

For more information about the broadcasts, please contact the Foundation.

The Foundation’s preliminary schedule of accredited satellite television broadcasts for the period January to June 2009 also includes new programs on the health workforce in general, and female general practitioners in particular.

January to June broadcast highlights
The Foundation’s 2009 schedule kicks off in January with A is for Asthma, which discusses the latest in best practice asthma management for primary-school-aged children.

Two programs airing in February, both presented by well-known Indigenous actor Roxanne McDonald, address important health issues affecting young Indigenous people. Stay Strong focuses on child development issues from age 6 to 12, and features case studies which highlight initiatives that are contributing to generational change by providing culturally positive experiences for Indigenous kids that build pride and resilience.

Strong and Deadly deals with adolescent development issues from ages 13 to 18, and uses cases studies to explore several community-based initiatives that are having significant impact on the health and well-being of Indigenous young people.

Another February broadcast, Guidelines for the Treatment of Adults with Acute Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, aims to improve practitioner and community knowledge regarding best practice approaches to the management of mental health conditions following trauma.

New programs airing in March include Birthing in the Bush and The Health Workforce - An Interview with Professor Des Gorman.

The April 2009 schedule includes the premiere of A Program on Autism, and Women in General Practice will air for the first time in June.

Continuing the Foundation’s programming tradition
“Our preliminary schedule for early 2009 continues the Foundation’s tradition of covering a wide spectrum of topics for Australia’s rural and remote health professionals, while maintaining a special focus on Indigenous issues,” says Rural Health Education Foundation CEO Don Perlgut. “More health education programs will be added to our schedule over the coming months, but the current slate already ensures the Foundation is well on its way to fulfilling its mission in 2009.”

Multiple viewing options
The 2009 programs will be broadcast across the Foundation’s national satellite viewing network, usually on a Tuesday evening, with repeats during the daytime on the following Friday.

After the initial broadcast, each program will be available free on the Foundation’s website for viewing via web-streamed video or listening via an audio podcast.  DVD copies of each program can be purchased via our website.

More information
Broadcast times and other program details are available on the Foundation’s upcoming programs page.  To find a satellite viewing site near you, go to our viewing sites page.

For other information about the Foundation’s programs and activities, please browse our website or contact the Foundation.

About the program
The Journey Back: Rehabilitation After Stroke is a 70-minute program which focuses on the rehabilitation and return home of stroke survivors, and emphasises the importance of comprehensive assessment of rehabilitation needs, beginning at the point of hospitalization.

Now viewable online and on-demand
The real-time, interactive nature of web-casting enabled viewers of the initial screening of The Journey Back to submit questions to the expert panel while the live program was still in progress.

The panel’s answers to these questions are now included in the on-demand, web-streamed version of The Journey Back, which is now available for viewing via the Foundation’s website – free of charge - at any time.

More information
For more information on The Journey Back: Rehabilitation After Stroke - including presenter details, access instructions and associated educational resources - visit the program page or contact the Foundation.

New Directions in Treating Type 2 Diabetes: Enhancing Incretins - Enhancing Physiological Control reviews the physiology and pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes (T2D), and explores the place of a new treatment class in the management of T2D in rural practice.

The program centres on a discussion of Sitagliptin, the first oral T2D medication to be made available in Australia in more than seven years, which represents a new way of controlling blood glucose levels.

A timely program on Australia’s fastest growing chronic disease
“Ground-breaking research into type 2 diabetes recently delivered a completely new approach to controlling blood glucose levels,” says Rural Health Education Foundation CEO Don Perlgut. “And since T2D is Australia’s fastest growing chronic disease, we decided the issue warranted a new program fully dedicated to its exploration.”

“The New Directions in Treating Type 2 Diabetes program will enable rural health professionals to understand the physiological regulation of glucose homeostasis, including the role of incretin hormones, and, among other learning outcomes, understand the role of sitagliptin in managing patients with consistently high HBA,” says Mr Perlgut.

Program funding
New Directions in Treating Type 2 Diabetes: Enhancing Incretins - Enhancing Physiological Control is funded by Merck Sharp and Dohme (Australia) Ltd.

“We’re delighted that Merck Sharp and Dohme, a long term corporate supporter of the Foundation, has once again provided program funding, making the production and distribution of this important new program possible,” says Mr Perlgut.

Case studies and an expert panel
New Directions in Treating Type 2 Diabetes: Enhancing Incretins - Enhancing Physiological Control features a live panel discussion chaired by Dr Norman Swan, Presenter of the Health Report on ABC Radio National.

The panel comprises leading medical practitioners including Dr Greg Fulcher, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney and Director of the Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital; and Ms Leigh Spokes, a Credentialled Diabetes Educator from Wagga Wagga in NSW.

Broadcast details
The hour-long program will be broadcast live across the Rural Health Education Foundation’s satellite television network on Tuesday 16th December 2008 at 8pm (AEDT), with repeats at 8.00pm Perth time that same evening (two hours later) and 12.30pm on Friday 19th December.

Available on DVD and the web
DVD copies of this program will be available for purchase after the broadcasts via our website.
The program will also be available free on the Internet for viewing via web-streamed video or listening via an audio podcast.

About type 2 diabetes
Australia has one of the highest recorded rates of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the developed world, with approximately 275 adults diagnosed with the disease in Australia every day. More than 3 million Australian adults are expected to have been diagnosed with T2D by 2033.

T2D is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for more than 85-90 per cent of all diabetes cases, and is a progressive disease that often requires additional medications as it grows in severity.

More information
For more information on New Directions in Treating Type 2 Diabetes: Enhancing Incretins - Enhancing Physiological Control - including presenter details, access instructions and associated educational resources - refer to the program summary or contact the Foundation.

The Journey Back: Rehabilitation After Stroke will be presented as a live and interactive web-cast through the following web-cast webpage at 8pm (ADST) on Tuesday 9th December.

The new program picks up where Striking Back: Treatment and Management of Stroke (the Foundation’s initial web-cast pilot back in June) left off, providing rural GPs, nurses, and other health practitioners vital to stroke care with the most up-to-date information on rehabilitation.

The Journey Back will air simultaneously on the Foundation’s nationwide satellite broadcast network.

Turning viewers into participants through web-casting
“The feedback we received from our first foray into web-casting has been very positive,” says Rural Health Education Foundation acting CEO Amanda Little. “Our viewers certainly appreciate the opportunity to pose questions directly to the program presenters while the program is in progress.”

“And it’s fitting that our next web-cast, The Journey Back, is again stroke-related, this time focusing on assessment, discharge planning, and ongoing services for stroke victims,” says Ms Little.

About the program
The Journey Back: Rehabilitation After Stroke focuses on the rehabilitation and return home of stroke survivors, and emphasises the importance of comprehensive assessment of rehabilitation needs, beginning at the point of hospitalization.

It highlights how access to ongoing services - the ‘journey back’ - is very different depending on geographical location.  The program also considers the implications for intervention with rural and remote patients, their families and carers.

Presented by a panel of experts
The format of The Journey Back: Rehabilitation After Stroke is a live panel discussion led by Dr Norman Swan and featuring leading medical practitioners including Ms Melissa Gill, Stroke Care Coordinator for McIntyre & Tablelands Cluster in Armidale, NSW; Dr Warwick Hain, a General Practitioner from Wauchope in NSW; Dr Debbie Kesper, a Rehabilitation Physician from Bendigo Health Care Group in Victoria; and Ms Michelle Sharkey, Executive Officer of the Stroke Recovery Association in NSW.

Presentation details
The hour-long program will be presented as a live and interactive web-cast starting at 8pm (ADST) on Tuesday 9th December 2008.

Viewers wishing to participate in the web-cast should register online at http://www-waa-akam.thomson-webcast.net/au/dispatching/?event_id=c0ef496320e6c7af5884452c28b67adb&portal_id=cbcd84386e8128050ef381d83e104891

The Journey Back will be simultaneously broadcast across the Rural Health Education Foundation’s satellite television network on Tuesday 9th December at 8pm (ADST), with repeats at 8.00pm Perth time that same evening (two hours later) and 12.30pm on Friday 12th December.

Available on DVD and the web
DVD copies of this program will be available for purchase after the web-cast and broadcasts via the Foundation’s website.

The program will also be available free on the Internet for viewing via web-streamed video or listening via an audio podcast.

Program funding
The Journey Back: Rehabilitation After Stroke is produced with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing.

About stroke rehabilitation
Over the next 10 years, nearly 500,000 Australians will suffer at least one stroke.  One in five initial stroke sufferers die within the first month; nearly 90% of survivors live at home, and almost all have some form of disability. 

The impact of stroke on survivors and their families is profound.  Many remain disabled either physically or cognitively; many are unable to return to work; social isolation and depression is common.  At the same time, services for support and long-term recovery are limited, and this is particularly the case in rural and remote parts of Australia.

The web-cast will coincide with the launch of the National Stroke Foundation’s first audit of rehabilitation (hospital based) services around Australia, of which Dr Debbie Kesper (on the web-cast panel) was one of the members on the steering committee.

The key points from this audit will be posted in on the resources section of the Journey Back program page.

More information
For more information on The Journey Back: Rehabilitation After Stroke - including presenter details, access instructions and associated educational resources - visit the program page or contact the Foundation.

Sugar in the Bush: Rural and Remote Diabetes provides context through four diabetes-related case studies developed by The Menzies School of Health Research which highlight a variety of special circumstances affecting diabetes including pregnancy, older age and co-morbidity.

A focus on the special challenges of diabetes in the bush
“We know that, for a variety of reasons, detection and management of diabetes is much harder in regional and remote areas,” says Rural Health Education Foundation acting CEO Amanda Little. “A lack of local specialists, an absence of comprehensive screening programs, and a scarcity of general health resources all conspire to make treatment and management of diabetes particularly challenging in the bush.”
“The Sugar in the Bush program is specifically designed to help rural health practitioners to identify key management strategies and develop plans of care for patients with diabetes in rural and remote areas,” says Ms Little.

Program funding
The program Sugar in the Bush: Rural and Remote Diabetes is produced with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health & Ageing.

Case studies and an expert panel
Sugar in the Bush: Rural and Remote Diabetes features pre-recorded case studies and a live panel discussion led by Consultant Clinical Pharmacist Dr Geraldine Moses. The panel comprises leading medical practitioners including Aboriginal Health Worker and Diabetes Educator Ms Sumaria Corpus; Dr Hugh Heggie, a Medical Officer from Amoonguna Health Service (NT); Professor Kerin O’Dea AO from the University of Melbourne’s Department of Medicine; and Dr Pat Phillips, Senior Director Endocrinology at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide.

Broadcast details
The hour-long program will be broadcast live across the Rural Health Education Foundation’s satellite television network on Tuesday 25th September at 8pm (AEDT), with repeats at 8.00pm Perth time that same evening (two hours later) and 12.30pm on Friday 28th September.

Available on DVD and the web
DVD copies of this program will be available for purchase after the broadcasts via our website.
The program will also be available free on the Internet for viewing via web-streamed video or listening via an audio podcast.

Diabetes far more prevalent in remote areas
Australians living in rural and remote areas have been shown to have higher rates of risk factors and mortality from diabetes than their metropolitan counterparts. In 2004-05, it was found that death rates due to diabetes were significantly higher in all regional areas.

Furthermore, Indigenous Australians experience higher prevalence rates of diabetes and related risk factors and complications, and develop diabetes at an earlier age than the non-Aboriginal population. The overall prevalence of diabetes among Aboriginal adults is at least two to four times that of the non-Aboriginal population.

More information
For more information on Sugar in the Bush: Rural and Remote Diabetes - including presenter details, access instructions and associated educational resources – refer to the program summary or contact the Foundation.

Smoking and Pregnancy: Womb to Breathe explores the health impact of smoking on pregnant women, their unborn child, and young children. It includes filmed case studies and an animation that can be used to educate patients. It also canvasses the range of effective smoking cessation interventions, including the use of Lifescript tools, and considers how and when such interventions are best delivered.
* Limited DVD copies of this hour-long program, produced in April 2008, are now available free, courtesy of generous funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

It Takes a Village looks at the development of services that aim to reduce social isolation, and to support families and children before child abuse or neglect occurs.  The program features three filmed case studies of interventions that aim to reduce isolation and build stronger networks and communities.
* Limited DVD copies of this 26-minute program, produced in October 2008, are now available free, courtesy of generous funding from a number of philanthropic groups.

Other free programs still available
Two other Foundation DVDs remain available free of charge to bona fide Australian health professionals (one copy or set per individual or organisation).

Another Shade of Blue: Depression in Older Australians aims to provide information to rural health professionals on best practice multi-disciplinary interventions for depression in older Australians, including older Indigenous Australians and older people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
* Free distribution of this 68-minute program, produced in November 2007, is funded by beyondblue - the national depression initiative.

The Continence Education Program Series consists of three Foundation titles, available free in a DVD set:

• Continence and Men’s Health is a 68-minute program which aims to help health workers increase their understanding of the issues relating to continence for men and the need to be aware of incontinence issues that relate to a range of specific conditions and health problems.

• Continence: Children and Adolescents is a 62-minute program which aims to improve the knowledge of health professionals relating to continence for children and adolescents. It will assist health professionals to normalise incontinence in the context of children’s development, and to treat, manage or refer the problem if it becomes chronic.

• Improving Bowel Continence is a 55-minute program which aims to assist health professionals to promote good diet and bowel habits and to help their patients to regain control and manage bowel problems.
* Free distribution of this three program set, produced between November 2007 and February 2008, is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

How to order free DVDs
Online
Ensure you are logged in, visit the program page of the program you wish to order, click “add to cart” and complete the order process.

By email, fax or phone
Contact the Foundation directly supplying details of the program you wish to order, your postal details and contact information.

In the Foundation’s final conference activity for 2008, Foundation Director Ms Margaret Norington will attend the AGPN Forum in Darwin, along with Amanda Little, acting CEO and Director of Education.

In addition to providing free DVD copies of selected Foundation programs to visitors at the Foundation’s booth, Margaret and her colleagues will seek input from Forum participants on potential case studies for future Foundation programs.

And Associate Professor Sabina Knight from the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, who is both a Foundation Director and a contributor to past Foundation programs, will give a keynote presentation at the Forum entitled The Future of Primary Health Care in Ten Years.

Both Sabina and Margaret will welcome discussion of the Foundation’s activities and other relevant issues with anyone who has a professional or personal interest in rural and remote health.

Furthermore, as an adjunct to the Darwin Forum, the Foundation’s Finance and Administration Manager Lesley Peters will visit several Northern Territory satellite reception sites.

AGPN Forum details
The Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) Forum runs from 9am on Wednesday 29 October to 4pm on Saturday 1 November 2008 at the Darwin Convention Centre on Stokes Hill Road in Darwin, NT.
The Hon Nicola Roxon MP, Minister for Health and Ageing, and the Hon Peter Dutton MP, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing, will both give keynote addresses.  Professor Peter Brooks will also give a keynote address on The Future of the Primary Care Workforce and the Changing Environment.

More information
For more information about the Foundation’s presence at this event, please contact the Foundation.

Join more than twenty current supporters
New partners will join a list of highly regarded existing supporters, including: the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, Merck Sharp & Dohme Australia; the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Royal College of Nursing and Pharmaceutical Society of Australia; and program-specific supporters such as the National Asthma Council, Perpetual, beyondblue: the national depression initiative,  the National Stroke Foundation and the Jean Hailes Foundation for Women’s Health.

“As we approach the end of another successful year of health-related education program development and distribution, we’re keen to open a dialogue with potential new partners,” says Foundation Acting CEO Ms Amanda Little. “The Foundation benefits greatly from the resources provided by its existing partners, and additional supporters are vital to the expansion and maintenance of our education services.”

Help strengthen a non-profit lifeline to the bush
Established in 1992, the Rural Health Education Foundation provides independent, accredited education services to general practitioners and other health professionals working in rural and remote Australia. The Foundation broadcasts distance education programs using digital satellite technology, the Internet and distributed DVDs. These programs are invaluable to doctors, pharmacists, nurses, administrators and other health professionals in the bush.

How to become a Foundation partner
For more information on becoming a Foundation partner contact Georgina Springer on (02) 6232 5480 or at client@rhef.com.au

The Board and Staff of the Rural Health Education Foundation will join together with key financial supporters on Monday October 13th 2008 to launch the Foundation’s new community-centred television program on the prevention of child abuse.

The launch of It Takes a Village, a 26-minute documentary about prevention of child abuse and neglect, will be the focus of the Foundation’s annual end of year gathering at its Canberra head office.

Proceedings will be led by Foundation Chair Dr Brian Bowring and Sean Ryan, Senior Financial Consultant at Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd, Canberra which contributed funding for It Takes a Village.

Other philanthropic groups that funded the program will also be represented at the launch, including The Ian Potter Foundation, Mary Potter Trust Foundation and The Milton Corporation Foundation.
Perpetual Trustee Company Ltd acts as trustees for The John Christopher Pascoe Memorial Charitable Trust, The Charles Bateman Charitable Trust, J S Love Trust, Baxter Charitable Foundation & Ernest Lonsdale Brown Trust.  A five-minute selection of highlights from It Takes a Village will be shown at the launch.

About the program
It Takes a Village, which will screen on the Foundation’s satellite network on Tuesday October 14th at 8pm AEDT, is presented by Julie McCrossin, who also presented Drinking for Two?, the Foundation’s program about Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

The new program is a community-based version of It Takes a Community: Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect, which was aimed at health professionals and was first broadcast on the Foundation’s satellite network on July 29th 2008.  It Takes a Village features three filmed case studies of interventions that aim to reduce isolation and build stronger networks and communities.

More information
For more information on It Takes a Village - including case study and presenter details, access instructions and associated educational resources – refer to the program summary or contact the Foundation.