The NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service (MHCS) is a state-wide health service that engages with people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds to provide health information.

The service provides multilingual health information, consultancy including provision of data, translation services, and partnerships with local community groups. They also run the campaign Multicultural Health Week, in 2022 the theme was screenings for bowel, breast and cervical cancer.

If you or a loved one need help understanding health information in your language, contact them via their website or on 02 9332 9710.

Women’s Health Week is the week-long event in Australia focusing on the health and wellbeing of women and girls run between Monday 5 September to Sunday 11 September 2022. Click here for a women’s health check list guide.
The below contains resources on a variety of topics that relate to womens health.

Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer is the most common cancer affecting Australian women. It is important women between 50-74 years have routine breast screening mammograms every two years.

• Breast Screen: Home (BreastScreen NSW)
• Breast Examination: signs-and-symptoms-infographic.pdf (nsw.gov.au)

Cervical Screening
The Cervical Screening Test is a preventative screening program that observes for cervical cancer. You are eligible for cervical screening if you are 25 to 74 years old, have a cervix and have ever been sexually active.

• About cervical screening | Cancer Institute NSW

Family Planning

For all family planning matters, whether that is about starting a family or utilising contraception, it is best to speak with your GP or a health professional, to determine the best options for yourself.

• Family Planning: Planning for pregnancy | Pregnancy Birth and Baby (pregnancybirthbaby.org.au)
• Contraception: Body Talk – body, relationship and sexual health info for young people

Familial Advice/Mental Health

Seeking help can seem daunting. There are a range of resources, services and information that assist in identifying what help you may need. This is for all women, of all ages and can be digital, in-person and more.

• Parental advice: MumSpace – Perinatal Depression and Anxiety Support
• Headspace: headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Resource: Transcultural Mental Health Centre (TMHC) – Transcultural Mental Health Centre (nsw.gov.au)

Menopause/Endometriosis

Menopause is the stage that marks the natural end of reproduction of a woman’s life. Endometriosis is a serious condition affecting 1 in 9 women in Australia, causing issues for reproduction health and overall livelihoods.

• Menopause: pdf
• Endometriosis: Endometriosis | healthdirect

Concord Repatriation Hospital

Address:  Hospital Road, Concord
Phone:  (02) 9767 5000
Website

Services include:  Ambulatory Care Clinics, Bone and Joint Services, Cancer Services, Colorectal Services, Critical Care Services including Intensive and Coronary Care Emergency Department and Burns and Service, Gastroenterology, Geriatrics and Rehabilitation Medicine, Haematology Services including transfusion and Haematology Day Stay Unit, Laboratory Services, Laparoscopic Surgery, Preadmission Clinic and Day Surgery, Respiratory Medicine and Sleep Studies, X-ray and Nuclear Medicine Departments.

Canterbury Hospital

Address:  Canterbury Road, Campsie
Phone:  9787 0000
Website

Services:  General Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Aged Care, Rehabilitation and Palliative Care are among the services provided.

Sydney Dental Hospital

Address:  2 Chalmers Street Surry Hills
Phone: 9293 3200
Website

Services:  Oral healthcare is provided to CSAHS residents & people in NSW who hold current pensioner & healthcare concession cards. In addition to full range of on-site care , a network of child & adult clinics, mobile units, screening programs & education services.

Homebush Early Childhood Health Centre is located at A2 Fraser Street Homebush in the Strathfield Children’s Centre.

Child and Family Health Nurses work in the Early Childhood Health Centre and offer health, development and welbeing check for your child as well as support, education and information on all aspects of parenting. Information and support is provided regarding:

• Breastfeeding
• Infant feeding and nutrition
• Sleep and crying patterns
• Adjusting to parenting
• Children’s growth and development
• Infant and child behaviour
• Immunisation
• Safety
• Playing with babies and toddlers to stimulate and promote development
• Parental wellbeing

Child and Family Health Nursing is part of Healthy Families Healthy Children, a program of services and resources developed by Sydney Local Health District to support the best development of children and enable families to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.

To contact the Homebush Early Childhood Health Centre,

please call CHIL from 8:30am – 4pm Monday to Friday on 9562 5400.

The BreastScreen Australia Program provides free mammograms for women aged 50 – 69 years. This government funded service aims to detect breast cancer in its early stages, when treatment can be most effective.

For further questions about breast cancer and the screening process, please refer to the Breast Screen Australia website.

Family Planning NSW is the state’s leading provider of reproductive and sexual health services. They are experts on contraception, pregnancy options, STIs, sexuality and sexual function, menstruation, menopause, common gynaecological and vaginal problems, cervical screening, breast awareness and men’s sexual health.

The local clinic is located at 328-336 Liverpool Road Ashfield (02 8752 4316) and people of all ages and backgrounds are welcome, with interpreter services available on request. Further information on the Ashfield clinic, including opening times, can be found on their website.

Are you living with hepatitis B? Find out. The get tested campaign encourages people from Chinese-speaking, Arabic-speaking, Korean, and sub-Saharan African communities in NSW to get tested for hepatitis B.

Vietnamese 2023 calendar with hepatitis B messaging

The Diversity Hub has created a Vietnamese Calender with Hepatitis B messaging for 2023!

The calendar follows a suite of initiatives undertaken by the Vietnamese Hepatitis B community development project in 2022. Purpose of calendar is to let Vietnamese community know of the importance of hepatitis B and what they can do to protect their loved ones, families, partners

We are committed to increasing awareness of hepatitis B in the community and hope that our calendar will provide useful information about hepatitis B. All hepatitis B messages are in Vietnamese and encourage the community to test and treat.

The calendar also provides the phone number to Telephone Interpreter Service and the MHAHS website where the community can receive information in Vietnamese.

It includes 12 full-colour easy-to-turn pages that introduce key hepatitis B messages.

Download a copy of our Vietnamese calendar here.

For more information on the Vietnamese Hepatitis B Project, contact Wa’el Sabri, Senior Community Engagement Officer on 9515 1234 or email Wael.Sabri@health.nsw.gov.au

What is Dementia?

Dementia is a word used to describe a collection of conditions affecting the brain’s function. The impairments in brain function are significant enough to affect how a person functions in everyday life. Symptoms associated with dementia are broad and include memory loss, misplacing objects, poor judgement, withdrawal from usual activities, difficulty with speech, challenges in completing everyday tasks and changes in behaviour or personality. Dementia affects each individual differently and not all symptoms are present in every individual. Symptoms typically commence slowly and gradually progress over time, typically years.

Age is the strongest known risk factor for dementia, with the majority of cases occurring in people over the age of 65. However, it is important to note that as people age, developing dementia does not always occur, with many older people having normal cognition. Dementia can occasionally be hereditary, but this is typically rare.

Your medical practitioner or healthcare provider can assist if you or your family are concerned about dementia. They will typically ask about symptoms, other health issues and medications. Tests of memory, attention and other cognitive skills will be performed in addition to a physical examination, blood tests and brain scan. This assessment will assist in determining if dementia is present and what the possible disease causing it is. Other conditions or their treatments can mimic dementia and identifying and treating these conditions is an important part of this assessment.

One of the common questions people ask is how is dementia different to Alzheimer’s disease? Dementia describes the collection of symptoms that we see including impairment in memory and other brain functions. Dementia is caused by well over 100 different diseases. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common disease causing dementia, accounting for over half of dementia cases. There are many other conditions that can cause dementia including vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. Unfortunately dementia is progressive and there is no known cure although very active international research looking for effective treatments continues.

For more information about dementia see Dementia Australia  https://www.dementia.org.au/

Services

My Aged Care is the entry point for access to Commonwealth funded aged care services. These services are open to people over 65yrs of age or over 50yrs if of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background. These services might be supports to help you safely stay in your own home such as meals, help with cleaning or changes to your home or exercises to reduce the chance of a fall. You can also access residential aged care facilities through this process, if you are unable to remain in your own home.

To access any of these services, you will need to have an assessment – which involves a visit to your home where you will be asked about how you manage different daily tasks. This will help the assessor understand what is important to you as you age, what supports you already have in place (such as family and friends) and work out how much support could help you to live safely as you wish to. Your assessor will assist you in accessing the services you are approved for. You might find that your needs and preferences change over time. You can talk about this with any services you have in place to see if they can be changed to meet what you need, or you may need a new assessment to get some more supports.

You can phone My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 (Monday-Friday 8am-8pm, Saturdays 10am-2pm) or visit the website at www.myagedcare.gov.au to find out more information about assessments and the services available.

Support for Carers

Are you a family carer for someone with dementia?  If so, you might like to know about the various organisations and services that are available to you that can help you cope with some of the ups and downs along the way.

• The Carer Gateway (carergateway.gov.au) can provide emotional, practical and financial help for carers including emergency respite should something happen to prevent you from continuing in your caring role.
• Dementia Australia (https://www.dementia.org.au/support/family-and-carers) is another organisation that provides education and support for people with dementia and their carers. They host the Dementia Helpline (ph 1800 100 500) and have counsellors available to help you navigate the emotional side of caring for someone with dementia.
• The Aged Health, Chronic Care and Rehabilitation service (https://www.slhd.nsw.gov.au/acrs/) consists of a multidisciplinary team including geriatricians, nurses and allied health therapists to provide diagnosis and support for people with dementia.  The service also encompasses a Dementia Counselling and Support program which can assist carers in gaining information and understanding about dementia while linking them with other local services which can help them in their caring role.  The program also facilitates a Male Carers’ group for men who are caring for a partner, parent or other relative with dementia.
• Sydney Local Health District also provides a range of support services for carers. The Dementia Support Service, accessed via My Aged Care (myagedcare.gov.au), provides flexible respite to allow carers to take a break for a few hours while a skilled support worker spends time with the person with dementia.

Caring for someone with dementia can be isolating and it’s sometimes difficult to know where to turn to for support.  Making contact with any of the above organisations can be a good first step to ensure that you have access to those programs and services that can assist you in coping both now and in the future.

Translated Resources

• Arabic: Arabic – العربية | Dementia Australia
• Hindi: Hindi – हिंदी | Dementia Australia
• Korean: Korean – 한국어 | Dementia Australia
• Nepali: Nepali – नेपाली | Dementia Australia
• Simplified Chinese: Simplified Chinese (Mandarin) – 普通话 | Dementia Australia
• Tamil: Tamil – தமிழ் | Dementia Australia
• Vietnamese: Vietnamese – Tiếng Việt | Dementia Australia

All information provided by Sydney Local Health District, Aged Health, Chronic Care & Rehabilitation Service.