BUSHkids Annual Report 21 | 22

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BUSHkids in Cunnamulla BUSHkids has been working in the remote community of Cunnamulla since 2020, in collaborationwith and funded by theWQPHN as part of the Healthy Outback Kids Program . Our team has formed strong collaborative relationships within the community, working closely with the Cunnamulla Aboriginal Corporation for Health’s (CACH) New Directions Team. Our dedicated Cunnamulla team comprises a Speech Pathologist and Occupational Therapist and in 2023 we hope to recruit a local AHA based in the community.

About Cunnamulla An outback town of 1,200 people with a high First Nations representation, and a nine-hour drive west of Brisbane, Cunnamulla has a long history with the Kunja people as the Traditional Custodians. The name means ‘long stretch of water’ or ‘big waterhole’ in Kunja language. BUSHkids is working with

Children’s group programs are also provided. This year BUSHkids delivered Playing and Learning to Socialise (PALS) and Read and Grow both in-person and via telepractice, the latter using a wide-angle webcam for a more inclusive and broad view of the class. These programs have been designed to support the development of social and emotional skills, early literacy and language skills. In October, our budding partnership with Angel Flight Australia came to fruition with the inaugural BUSHkids Angel Flight. This resulted in increased time on the ground for our team.

Our team travels out to Cunnamulla six times per year (weather and pandemic permitting). These weeks are very busy, making the most of face-to-face time in the community to build and develop relationships and to gain a greater understanding of what the community needs from our service. The service model involves building upon the strengths of what is already happening for children in the community. We provide developmental screeners, assessments, and intervention for children in the community and follow up with telepractice. Families can partake in telepractice sessions using our equipment housed in the local day care centre, or directly into family homes. This year there has been a focus on school readiness, with many screeners provided to children transitioning to school in 2023. Screeners are an integral part of identifying areas of support in children’s development and, in consultation with families, goals are developed and therapy blocks scheduled to further develop their skills required for school readiness. This work was also done with children transitioning to kindergarten (and younger age) to identify any early intervention supports that may be required. Our therapists run targeted and universal group programs with Gidgee Kids Early Learning Centre staff to increase community capacity to support children’s development in areas including children’s fine motor and gross motor skills, emotional regulation, and language development. One example activity is facilitating a child’s activity station and modelling how the activity can be scaffolded or adapted to support each child’s varied abilities. BUSHkids’ A Steady Start to School (ASS2S) Program was delivered at Sacred Heart Catholic School for parents to support their child’s transition to school. Our team also works closely with Cindy and Caitlin, the organisers of CACH’s mums and bubs groups.

key cultural community stakeholders in the to support the development of young children, and their families, to reach their full potential.

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Reaching for the skies

BUSHkids has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Angel Flight Australia. Angel Flight is a charity which co-ordinates non-emergency flights to help people living in rural and remote Australia access specialist medical treatment that would not otherwise be available to them because of the distance and travel costs. In essence this was the original ethos behind the Royal Queensland Bush Children’s Health Scheme. The MoU allows BUSHkids clinicians to travel out to remote communities on Angel Flight aircraft to provide free face-to-face Allied Health services which are not easily accessed without traveling in to one of our regional service centres. Angel Flight is a wonderful nonprofit organisation with aims and ideals that closely match our own. By working together, we can make our Allied Health services more easily accessible to children and families living in remote Queensland communities.

Discover more:

/AngelFlightAustralia