The Greater Shepparton Foundation is thrilled to launch a new major project, the Greater Shepparton Healthy Child Co-design.
Co-design is a practice involving multiple stakeholders in the design and development of services, with the goal of creating solutions that are more effective, relevant and satisfying to the people who use them.
The Greater Shepparton Healthy Child Co-design looks at Maternal and Child Health services in Greater Shepparton and ways we can address barriers to these services experienced by our multicultural community.
With 17.4 per cent of the Greater Shepparton population born overseas and 17.6 per cent speaking a language other than English at home, cultural barriers can lead to inequitable healthcare access. Using co-design to uncover and redesign systems will see earlier intervention for children who need it, greater connection and trust between families and healthcare services and improvements in school readiness.
The 10 key age and stage consultations are free services provided by Greater Shepparton City Council’s qualified maternal child health nurse from birth through to school age, and engagement with services is an important tool to monitor and assess a child’s important developmental milestones.
For families, the maternal child health service provides much-needed care and support, improves the overall health outcome of the mother and baby, promotes healthy development, empowers women and mothers, and assists in reducing future healthcare costs.
The co-design aspect of this project is to ensure collaboration at the core. Throughout the process, the GSF will work together with stakeholders, users, designers and our community to create solutions that meet everyone’s needs and priorities. Ideally, the project will lead to truly innovative and sustainable solutions based on the collective’s creativity, knowledge and lived experience.
The GSF has welcomed Katie Thorp, a local public health nutritionist, as a new staff member to head this project. The GSF team is excited to see the project roll out and witness its sustainable impact on our community.
The Greater Shepparton Healthy Child Co-design adds to our repertoire of major projects that support the GSF’s vision of an inclusive, interconnected community where everybody has an equal opportunity to participate.
We extend our thanks to our financial supporters of the Greater Shepparton Healthy Child Co-design, the Pratt Foundation and Besen Family Foundation, and look forward to working with our community to co-design solutions for greater social impact.
To read more, please visit the ‘Major Projects’ page on our website, www.greatershepparton.foundation
Until next time,
Amanda McCulloch
Greater Shepparton Foundation executive officer
