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Health Promotion

Health Promotion is the process of enabling people to take control over, and improve their health.  See attached NHW Health Promotion Community Health Plan 2006 - 2009 for more detail.
A person's state of health is influenced by a number of factors including:

Therefore, health promotion is everyone's business and is more than just the absence of disease.
The primary role of the health promotion department within NHW is to plan, implement and evaluate health promotion initiatives aimed at improving the factors mentioned above for the organisation staff, patients, volunteers and the wider community.
Health promotion initiatives deliver benefits for the community in promoting good health, reducing preventable illness and lowering overall health care expenditure.

Some of the health promotion initiatives that are currently being implemented by NHW include:

These initiatives address National, State and local priorities.

Below are some useful links that will help you gain a further insight into health promotion and provide you with information on how to live a happy, healthy, and active and lifestyle. 
The following address is for the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, best known as VicHealth.
http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au

This site provides a gateway to health promotion activities within the Department of Human Services and other key health promotion resources.
http://www.health.vic.gov.au/healthpromotion
Go for your life' is a Victorian Government initiative which aims to increase levels of physical activity and healthy eating and promote stronger communities.
http://www.goforyourlife.vic.gov.au
Quit Victoria is a joint initiative of The Cancer Council Victoria, VicHealth, Department of Human Services and the National Heart Foundation. They are dedicated to eliminating the pain, illness and suffering caused by tobacco.
http://www.quit.org.au 

Community Kitchens

A Community Kitchen (CK) involves a group of people with similar backgrounds or interests getting together to cook nutritious meals and socialize. A Community Kitchen encourages all members to participate in the planning, preparation and cooking processes.

Members decide how their CK will operate. Some groups choose to cook a number of meals for themselves and their families to take home, other groups choose to cook and share a meal together. The groups are owned and driven by members, who are encouraged to use creativity in the development of their individual kitchens. Participants are actively involved in the planning, shopping, preparing and cooking of the meals.

An integral part of the Community Kitchen Program is to utilize existing community resources and to create partnerships to support sustainability of the program and limit requirements for on-going support. For CK's to be sustainable, each group will need to have someone take on a facilitator role to ensure that the group's needs are being met. Some groups have support staff that may act as a facilitator, others will have a group member that is willing to take on the role or share the role with other group members.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the Community Kitchen Program is to further develop a sense of community around food. Community Kitchens provide an opportunity for individuals and community groups to actively participate in preparing and cooking fresh, nutritious foods together. Community Kitchens feed and nourish the stomach and the soul. They encourage members to develop new friendships, whilst further developing skills in cooking affordable, nutritious meals1.


Community Kitchens in Wangaratta

Currently there are 3 community kitchens in Wangaratta.

 For more information go to www.communitykitchens.org.au

If you are interested in joining one of these kitchens please contact NHW's Health Promotion Officer on (03) 5722 0279.
 

1. Frankston Community Health Service Community Kitchens- Guidelines for workgroups and facilitators