Help Close to Home

In this last episode of series two we have tried something a little different.  Through the interviews we noticed some themes about the role of family and friends and the benefit of making access to health support easier.  You will hear from a number of people about ways to get health help close to home. You will hear some familiar voices talk about the topics of telehealth and mental health. You will also hear some new ones on how family members can help.

Interested in the topic and looking for more?

This episode has snippets from previous episodes, to hear them in full go to the following episodes:
John ‘Jumbo’ Suholz – AFL to Life with Depression
Mal Coutts – From Footy Coach to Rural Outreach Worker
Corinne Heintze – Alone, But not Lonely
Robyn Kelm – The Art of Listening

Dr Rob Grenfell is also a familiar voice on the series. You can hear Dr Rob on other important topics in the following episodes:
Ill From the Animal World
Special Edition – The need to know of COVID (Oct 2021)

Skin Cancer
Peter and Hannah French spoke about organising a skin check. Want more information about skin cancer?

•  Listen to our episode ‘Saving Your Skin’
• Check out the Cancer Council, Better Health Channel and Health Direct websites.

Telehealth
Dr Rob talked about some of the benefits of telehealth for those living in rural and regional areas, but what is it? You can find information on what it is, benefits of it, stories of using it and more here.

Live in a rural and regional area? Want to know more and get tip on your healthcare options? You can find information at the Better Health Channel and Health Direct.

Find information on WWHS telehealth services here. Or contact your local health service to see what they offer.

Mental Health
Jumbo and Robyn spoke about being there for friends or having friends be there for them. You can find information on how to help someone or information on mental health matters at:
Better Health Channel
Health Direct
BeyondBlue 

Check out these fact sheets on Depression, Relationships and family, and Stress.

Some services available are:

• Rural Outreach Program - Phone: 1300 688 732  or visit: http://ruraloutreach.org.au 
• The National Centre for Farmer Health’s Online Psychology Service 
• The WWHS's 

Facebook: @FarmerWantsaHealthyLife Twitter: @_FWAHL

Transcript

Brigitte

This is a West Wimmera Health Service podcast. Presented by me Brigitte Muir. 

This series focuses around stories and issues related to health and wellbeing. Some of the people we hear from are sharing their stories, hoping that their experiences will help us with our own health and wellbeing. Please be aware that some of their life experiences may touch on issues that are sensitive to some. Please listen with care. You will find information on seeking help if you need it in the notes attached to each episode if you need it.

In this last episode of our second series, we look at what the options are when the body or the mind need a bit of looking after. Let's meet the French's of farming family living near Natimuk. 

Peter how long have you been a farmer?

Peter

Thirty…three years 

Brigitte

What were you doing before you became a farmer?

Peter

I was an engineer ….in an office… under fluorescent lights. 

Brigitte

I know that farmers are very busy and always find it hard… to make time to go and see a doctor. Was that the case with you as well? 

Peter

Oh absolutely. *Chuckling* Unless I was really incapacitated, I’d never go and see a doctor.

Brigitte

We've also got Hannah here who is …your eldest daughter 

Hannah 

Hello

Brigitte

Hannah were there times where you when you family thoughts, dad really needs to go and see a doctor and he didn't.

Hannah

There's definitely been times when like, he’s had a… had a wound and we were like, “Come on Dad, you need to get that checked out”. And he would be like “yeah, nah, she’ll be right”. So it happens a fair bit. There were there have been occasions when it has been bad enough, for him to concede that he should probably go and see a doctor but there takes it you know it's a bit of hassling from the, from the kids to make that happen sometimes.

Brigitte

I…I heard that it took you five years to go and have you…a skin check. Is that true? 

Peter

Probably yes. Yes. 

Brigitte

What decided you to go?

Peter

Hannah… and the girls

Hannah

I, I, I heard, I’m a bit paranoid about my own skin. So, I went and got checked years ago, and then it been a while … and then I heard a recommendation for someone… who comes to Horsham, and so I was like “Alright good. I'm going to book in myself, book in my  partner. And I’m gonna book in mum and dad”. So, I just made, like, I just called them up and I=got two alternative dates, made the appointments, and then I called mum and dad and said “these are the dates that you've got to choose from”. And so, they… they chose their dates and then my partner and I went on the other dates… and it worked out well.

Brigitte

Okay, so family intervention works very well for the French’s. But what else is there? What about picking up the phone to talk with a doctor, if you don't need an actual physical exam? Dr. Robert Grenfell highlights one good thing that came out of the current pandemic. 

Dr. Robert Grenfell

So COVID meant that we couldn't have face to face consults and we needed to limit them as much as possible and where possible to do these things, by other means. So the government introduced a way of GPS getting paid for doing these types of consults, that was temporary in the first instance. And now they've made that longer term and made it more permanent. That's actually a good thing because especially for people in rural settings, the idea of getting in a car and driving for three and a half hours down to Melbourne, for a five-minute consult to have a specialist look at you, and maybe poke you somewhere or maybe take your blood pressure, and then turn around and come back is…. I think as an insult to rural people, to be frankly honest, and when the technology exists where we can have validated safe, effective services provided to us, basically in our own community. We should have been doing this years ago.

Brigitte

I'm pretty sure that you can also do it with your local GP if you happen to be isolated somewhere and you just don't have time to come in or it's too hard for you to make it.

Dr. Robert Grenfell

Well. The important thing with COVID is that you don't go to the doctor surgery. You don't go to the hospital, you actually ring up and say this is what I've got, before you go. Because if you go to the doctor surgery, as we seen, unfortunately, many times during this outbreak already, you'll actually spread or potentially spread the virus to everybody else at the clinic at that particular time. And the general practice clinic will have to shut for deep cleaning. It's very important that for…for a number of conditions you actually do, do I have a video consultation before you actually do that. So for COVID that's important, but for many things that we actually have in health problems. You are going in for a chat and if you have a long and stable relationship with a particular doctor, many people find it extremely easy to have a…a teleconference with their GP and be just as satisfied as they would be if they're actually seeing them in their rooms.

Brigitte

What about mental health? What did people we already talked with have to say about it? Jumbo Sudholz Rupanyup farmer and former AFL player tells us how he dealt with his depression.

John

Didn't realize that I had depression at the time and didn't find out until after I had a breakdown and went away to a mental health institution. And then that's when I realised that my personality changed I'd become reserved, I isolated myself, wouldn't be socialise. And they were all the wrong things to do. When you're suffering from stress and depression, you've got this magnificent ability to be able to close it up and not show the person you're talking to or meeting or even within your own family 

Brigitte

really 

John

And which is that's part of the conditioning I guess, ah…people close to you find out whether it's your partner or your kids or people that you'll work with, they tend to work out but you're not sort of traveling too good and what's but very few of them have got a courage to be able to say “hey, you need to go and get some help”.

Brigitte

What do you call a breakdown? What is the breakdown for those people out there who may be on the verge of a breakdown?

John

When you having that stage you usually lacking a lot of confidence. So it's very difficult to say look it up not feeling too good. So the first person you need to talk to is probably your best mate. And everybody's got a mate, and I talk, I talk a lot about this chap that was my really close friend at the time, who had a lot of issues himself. But when I did completely break down I rang Kyle and he was there within five minutes and drove me to Melbourne to the hospital and I've still haven't, that's 35 years ago. I've still never forgotten it.

Brigitte

What if you're not comfortable talking with your mates about feeling though? Well, it costs nothing to talk to the Rural Outreach Program. Here is Mal Coutts with it 

Mal

we cover a lot of area in the four shires. The Yarriambiack, West Wimmera, Hindmarsh and Horsham Rural Council, and we just go to people where we’re needed, people can just ring us up and have a talk if they're not traveling that well, ‘it cost nothing to talk’ is our slogan, and it's just a program for people who are doing it a bit tough… can ring up and get some information on where to go or just have a talk and vent.

Brigitte

Yeah. And most of the time its … its easier to a stranger about your problems

Mal 

Yes, it is or someone that you know of, or you know, so and so, “Oh yeah”. Talk to him or you know, sometimes your best mate is not the right one to talk to.

Brigitte

It costs nothing to talk.

So whether you choose to talk to a friend or family or a kind stranger, there are ways to deal with your problems. You may even find the solution within,  Minyip farmer Corinne Heintze certainly does.

Corinne

God is in everything, God is in nature, God's in creation, and God can be inside you if you let ‘em and this is one piece of advice I would say to people. If you have any kind of spiritual inclination whatsoever, don't ever turn your back on it. Don't ever ignore it. It's a very important part of you.

Brigitte

Thank you, Corinne, that is so true. And please, if you need help, do remember that people care. They really do. 

Robyn

We as friends, neighbours, communities, we don't expect people to be on their own, that’s not what we want, we want them to feel that they're doing work, life, living by themselves, and that we all care. But to open up, to talk, to communicate would be my recommendation. 

Brigitte

Thank you to Robyn Kelm from Drung for reminding us to reach out when we need to.

 You will find us our ways contact numbers and details in the notes attached to this episode. And while you're at it, please give us a star rating. We'd also love to hear your comments and suggestions our Facebook and Twitter details are in the notes. Until next have a healthy life won’t you..

Transcribed by https://otter.ai edited by WWHS Health Promotion