World Cup glory to be relived in the Hunter

28 July 2010

The FIFA World Cup united the globe this month as hopefuls battled for football finals glory, and soccer will again bring nations together as HNE Health staff play the ‘world game’ to celebrate Multicultural Health Week (26 July - 1 August) on Thursday (29 July).

A football face-off will decide which staff from Hunter New England Health’s Multicultural Mental Health staff, Drug and Alcohol Services and the Calvary Mater Newcastle will take grand final honours to mark the important week.

HNE Health Multicultural Health Liaison Officer for Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Services Dubravka Vasiljevic said the Multicultural Health Week event is a novel way to bring staff together and highlight the many innovative programs being run in the Hunter that provide high-quality care and support to multicultural communities.

“We’re holding these events for fun and to recognise some of the good programs and initiatives developed for the multicultural community by our staff,” Mrs Vasiljevic said.

“For instance, one program we will be discussing and celebrating on the day provides substance use and mental health education sessions to people from culturally diverse communities.

“The program allows our staff to communicate in a number of languages to these people so they can be aware of the different kinds of illicit and legal drugs and the affects they can have on the mind and body.

“It’s important all community members have access to information about drug use and mental health – no matter what their first language is. We’ve had some great feedback from the community, which has been very pleasing.”

The day will also be used to launch the Multicultural Mental Health Volunteer Visiting Program. The program will recruit members of the community who speak a language other than English to spend time with patients in hospital who would otherwise find it a challenge to talk with other patients and staff.

“This will be a great way for community members to put their language skills to good use while brightening the day of some of our patients,” Mrs Vasiljevic said.

For more information or to be involved with the Multicultural Mental Health Volunteer Visiting Program please call Dubravka Vasiljevic on (02) 4016 4538 or Bronwyn Kavanagh on (02) 4033 5119.

Media are welcome to attend the HNE Health staff Multicultural Health Week activities, including the soccer tournament which will be held at the Calvary Mater Newcastle hospital.

Contact: Emma Gibbs

Phone: (02) 6767 7137 or 0428 114 767