GrantsLINK website

This website details a variety of grant programmes for individuals, businesses and communities. A wide variety of funding sources for program initiatives or hardship funding.
http://www.grantslink.gov.au

Preventing Chronic Disease
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/

"Persons with an interest in public health will want to make a beeline for this rather helpful and well-done journal offered by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). This online-only publication was started in January 2004, and contains a healthy mix of peer-reviewed articles, CDC announcements, and general interest pieces. The journal's interests are quite broad and include reproductive health, oral health, health risk behavior, and the value of policy and legislation in preventing chronic disease. Some of the recent articles in the journal have included pieces on childhood obesity prevention legislation, diabetes and tooth loss, and more specifically, "The Cradle to Prison Pipeline: An American Health Crisis". The site also contains an online archive and information for potential authors, peer reviewers, and information about email updates about new issues. [KMG]"

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2007. http://scout.wisc.edu/

A New Direction for GWAHS: Health Service Strategic Plan - Towards 2010

The inaugural Strategic Plan for the Greater Western Area Health Service is now available.

The Plan focuses on the people for whom GWAHS provides services - our communities and patients. It outlines the important results that GWAHS hopes to achieve and provides an overview of the directions for the service for the future.

A New Direction for GWAHS: Health Service Strategic Plan - Towards 2010 can be accessed and downloaded at www.gwahs.nsw.gov.au or http://gwahs/

Media Doctor (Website)

Media Doctor reviews current news items about medical treatments, assesses their quality using a standardised rating scale and presents reviews of good and bad examples of reports on this website. It is anticipated that these independent and objective critiques will improve journalistic practices in reporting new medications and treatments in Australia.
http://www.mediadoctor.org.au/

LabTests Online

LabTests Online is a new Federal Government sponsored Australian website which provides plain language explanations of the uses of, and procedures involved in, common laboratory tests. Suitable for patients or health professionals, the site may be searched by disease, by test, or by screening program

http://www.labtestsonline.org.au/

August edition of the ARCHI Net News

In this issue...
· E-Health Connectivity and Aged Care
· Eye Emergency Manual
· Listen to Innovations in e-Health Seminar
· ComPacks Program Annual Meeting Presentations
· Falls Prevention Model of Care
· APAC/GP Shared Care Model of Care
· Can you help?

Download this Newsletter now!

NSWHealth is a member of ARCHI. Use your CIAP login and password for access. For more information contact a GWAHS Library.

Water use on Australian farms

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released a publication titled Water Use on Australian Farms.

"Growing pasture for grazing was the biggest use of irrigation water in Australia in 2005-06. The Water Use on Farms survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics...found that the average irrigation rate of 4.2 megalitres per hectare was unchanged from the year before.
Of the 11,905 gigalitres used nationally by agriculture, 91.1 per cent was used to irrigate pastures and crops on 2.6 million hectares of land. NSW was the biggest user of irrigation water, taking 41.2 per cent of the national total.Western Australia had the highest rate per hectare, at 5.1 megalitres, followed by NSW with 4.5 megalitres.

Pasture for grazing accounted for 26.5 per cent of irrigation water used nationally followed by cotton (16.1 per cent), rice (11.3) and sugar cane (10.2). In NSW rice and cotton were the major users of irrigation water, accounting for 27 and 25 per cent respectively."

Read the rest of this article by Daniel Lewis and Stephanie Peatling in the online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald.
The report is available on the ABS site.

HealthInsite : consumer health information.

HealthInsite is a Dept. of Health and Ageing website with a wealth of consumer information links
http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/

Wellcome Images

Wellcome Images is a large collection of images from the Wellcome Library of the History of Medicine which are available for free downloand and copying under a Creative Commons Licence. A large number of contemporary images of procedures and clinical topics supplements the renowned historical collection. A very useful source for medical images.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm. Wellcome Images.

Australian Social Trends 2007

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mf/4102.0?OpenDocument

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4102.02007?OpenDocument

Australian Social trends, 2007, released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics , gives a snapshot of Australian society in 2007. Among the findings :

* More than 7 million adults in Australia, which is 54 per cent of the adult population, were classified as obese in 2004-05,.

* Australia's total fertility rate was 1.81 babies in 2005, the highest rate since 1995.

* The report also said Australians were less likely to marry and more marriages were likely to end in divorce.

The Australian Government Regional Information Directory (AGRID) and Regional Entry Point website.

The Regional Entry Point website is a site providing entry points to government programs and services in rural Australia. It may be accessed at :

http://www.regionalaustralia.gov.au/

Most of the information on the site is also collated every two years in a publication called "The Australian Government Regional Information Directory' (AGRID). The 2007 edition has just been released and may be ordered by filling in the website's "Feedback" form or by calling 1800 026222

Aged Care Australia (Website)

Aged Care Australia is the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing's online source of information for everything you need to know about aged care.
To enable consumers to easily navigate the plethora of aged care information available, the website has been arranged based on five questions:
- Need to know where to start?
- Need help staying at home?
- Need help with aged care homes?
- Need help for carers and family?
- Need help with health?

Highly recommended for all health service clients needing information on aged care options

See: http://www.agedcareaustralia.gov.au/