Our Communities

Bankstown Wellness Festival

Department General Practice continues to support community engagement activities in Western Sydney alongside our nursing and allied health colleagues, as part of the STITCHEs collaborative (Serving Through Interprofessional Community Health Engagement).

For the last three years we have attended Bankstown Wellness Festival, an event designed to engage members of the community who may not be accessing local health and wellness services, also to engage people suffering with mental illness. In October 2019 four final year students supervised by Dr Maithri Rupasinghe and Dr Miriam Brooks conducted cardiovascular screening health checks on around 100 community members, and had conversations about local services that can help with mental health difficulties, as well as substances and sexual health. Our students diverse language skills were a real asset and attracted many non English speaking community members to our stall.

Figure 1 Bankstown Wellness Festival 2019 Final year medical students in their GP rotation

Homeless Health events in Western and South Western Sydney

Also during the last three years we have attended Homeless Connect events in Parramatta, Bankstown, Macarthur, and Campbelltown. These events provide information about housing, medicare, and social services for people experiencing homelessness, as well as visual checks, podiatry and legal advice. School of Nursing & Midwifery and Department of General Practice have provided health checks to 100-200 patients at each event, with cardiovascular screening, and advice about services in each area that offer care for substances, mental health and sexual health at no cost to clients. Students give very positive feedback about their experiences at these events, they enjoy engaging with the community and learning about other services available for people who are impacted by homelessness or mental health difficulties.

Figure 2 Parramatta Homeless Connect 2017 Nursing and Medical students

High School Outreach

GP academics were invited to visit Cranebrook High School, Korowal and Katoomba High schools to talk about sexual health and mental health for young people in 2017-18. Students were positive in their feedback about opportunities to learn about how to prevent infections, how and where to access health care, and what confidentiality means for young people.