from Kiel Egging
Launched on World Mental Health day:
Mental Health Wallet Card
In celebration of 100 years of Rotary in Australia, all Rotary Clubs in Whitehorse have joined together to partner with the Eastern Health Foundation and Bendigo Bank’s Blackburn South community branch, in a significant Rotary mental health project.
This joint mental health project - named the Wallet Card Project - will assist people in crisis who attend Eastern Health’s emergency departments at Box Hill Hospital, Ringwood East’s Maroondah Hospital and Ferntree Gully’s Angliss Hospital who may be disorientated, vulnerable and often feeling they have nowhere to go.
This joint mental health project - named the Wallet Card Project - will assist people in crisis who attend Eastern Health’s emergency departments at Box Hill Hospital, Ringwood East’s Maroondah Hospital and Ferntree Gully’s Angliss Hospital who may be disorientated, vulnerable and often feeling they have nowhere to go.
“Our Wallet Card Project is designed to help people experiencing mental health crisis to understand what services are available to them, not just when they come to the Emergency Department, but more importantly, once they’ve left. “They have a tangible resource they can store in their wallet, to find where they need to be, and don’t walk out of the Emergency Department feeling alone.” |
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The $20,000 project has been devised by the Whitehorse cluster’s centenary committee in conjunction with Eastern Health, with major sponsorship from Bendigo Bank’s Blackburn South community branch, along with the clubs and the Eastern Health Foundation.
It will see ‘wallet cards’ containing information and contact details of support services given to patients as they leave the emergency department.
Mental illness and suicide are a leading cause of death in Australia and, by extension, Victoria and the eastern region of Melbourne. Tragically, on average, at least one person every week dies by suicide in the region served by Eastern Health.
For those people, navigating the mental health system can be challenging, with some having very limited access to internet or a smartphone, and many lacking financial independence and adequate social support.
As a consequence, after they leave the Emergency Department, some people may not access the community services available that provide support and healing.
Eastern Health Associate Professor Judy Hope, the organisation’s Academic Chair for Psychiatry, said more than 7000 people presented to its three hospital emergency departments with mental health issues each year.
Professor Hope said about half of people they see in mental health triage have suicidal thinking, and about 20 per cent of people have made a suicide attempt.
“In the midst of a personal crisis, of a mental health crisis, it can be really hard to think and to problem solve, and to figure out what to do next,” she said,
“Our Wallet Card Project is designed to help people experiencing mental health crisis to understand what services are available to them, not just when they come to the Emergency Department, but more importantly, once they’ve left.
“They have a tangible resource they can store in their wallet, to find where they need to be, and don’t walk out of the Emergency Department feeling alone.”
Rotary District 9810 District Governor Dr Daryl Moran said the project was “vital” and aligned perfectly with Rotary’s 2021-22 theme of ‘Serve To Change Lives’.
“At a time when Melbourne is experiencing prolonged periods of lockdown and the normal patterns and rhythms of life have been greatly disrupted, issues related to mental health come to prominence,” Dr Moran said.
“The Wallet Card Project provides a very practical and simple way of providing assistance to those in need and gives a splendid example of Rotary clubs serving to change lives.
‘I would like to commend the Rotary and Rotaract Clubs of Whitehorse for providing both physical and financial support for this vital mental health project.”
The project is in its development stage and is expected to be rolled out in early 2022, baring Covid-19 restrictions. More information and project updates will be provided in the coming months.
For more information on the project please contact Ray Mcleod-Dryden from the Whitehorse Rotary Centenary Committee at raymondmcd@optusnet.com.au or 0417 571 137.
About Eastern Health:
Eastern Health is one of the largest public health services in Victoria. Their seven major sites serve over 800,000 people in Melbourne’s eastern region from the inner suburbs of Kew and Camberwell to the Yarra Valley and beyond.
About Rotary District 9810:Rotary District 9810 contains more than 40 Rotary, Rotaract and satellite clubs ‘from the bay to the hills’ in Melbourne’s south and east. Eight clubs within the Whitehorse cluster are involved in the Wallet Card project, including Rotary Club of Box Hill Burwood, Rotary Club of Box Hill Central, Rotary Club of Mont Albert and Surrey Hills, Rotary Club of Forest Hill, Rotary Club of Nunawading, Rotary Club of Mitcham, the NewGen Rotary satellite club, and the Rotaract Club of White