Northeast Health Wangaratta (NHW) has been working through the implementation of its Disability Action Plan 2022-2025, launched in December 2022.
NHW Chief Executive Officer, Libby Fifis said the Disability Action Plan sets out a range of activities to improve access and inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of NHW’s operations.
“We’re really excited to see some new initiatives taking place to improve access and inclusion of people with disabilities”, Libby said.
“While we recognise there is more work to do, we are really proud of the activities and changes we have been able to achieve to date
Achievements of the plan so far include:
- Purchase of an e-learning module for all staff on disability awareness that explores disability access and inclusion
- Signing a partnership with JobAccess to assess and improve our recruitment process for inclusivity
- Implementing four sessions of Autism Awareness training in the Emergency Department
- A workshop facilitated by Ambulance Victoria on dialling 000 for our employees with disability and their families
- Raising awareness through social media and newsletters about different disabilities
NHW Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Jess Widdop is leading the remodelled regional Disability Liaison program, covering 13 health services.
“We are excited for the future of the Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) program, which has been funded as a regional initiative. NHW is partnering with GV Health to deliver the program and looks forward to finalising and sharing details with the community soon,” Jess said.
“We know the DLO program has supported many people through COVID-19, with vaccine and testing access as well as general healthcare needs.”
“The new model will be different and may take some time for everyone to get used to, however the key role to improve health care access for people with disabilities will continue to underpin the work of DLO’s across the region”.
Learn more about Disability Support at NHW and download our current Disability Action Plan 2022-2025.pdf