Bass Coast Health (BCH) is proud to be part of a state-wide project that is tracking the health and development of Victorian children and their parents from the time their new baby is born.
BCH is taking part in the Generation Victoria (GenV) initiative led by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, which aims to accelerate prediction, prevention and treatment of complex health and development problems faced by children and their parents.
These problems include mental illness, obesity, learning difficulties and allergies among children, and among parents, diabetes, obesity, and heart and mental health problems.
Denise Lawlor is the GenV representative at Wonthaggi Hospital, where the parents of newborns are invited to take part in the project.
“This is a valuable opportunity for families and their newborns to contribute to research that could result in targeted improvements in local healthcare by identifying local health priorities for attention in the future,” she said.
Ms Lawlor invites new parents and their new babies to participate after they have been born at Wonthaggi Hospital.
She interviews parents and feeds this information into the state-wide pool of data to drive future medical treatments and improvements to health services based on the evidence gathered.
BCH CEO Jan Child said the health service was proud to be contributing to the project.
“This information will paint a more accurate picture of the health and wellbeing of young families in our community and informs the specific type of healthcare they need locally to alleviate the time, expense and stress that it associated with travelling beyond our community,” she said.