Council teams with OzHelp to save lives

About 20 minutes is all it takes to potentially save a life.

That’s all it takes for trained healthcare professionals from the OzHelp Foundation to pick up possibly life-threatening illness such as diabetes, high cholesterol and depression.

Orange City Council teamed up with the charitable organisation to provide free health checks for its employees to stave off any health concerns as early as possible.

OCC Work Health and Safety Co-ordinator Charmaine Bennett said the initiative had been well received by staff and was offered to all new and existing employees regardless of their age, gender or job title.

“We take the wellbeing of our employees very seriously and want to do everything possible to ensure our employees are healthy both in mind and body,” she said.

The program has assisted several Council employees with the diagnosis of medical conditions and relevant treatment plans.

The 15 to 20 minute health assessment done by OzHelp field officers, at the workplace, looks at cholesterol levels , blood pressure, weight and stress awareness.

OzHelp Foundation field officer Julianna McDonald, who was in Orange this week, said she could think of countless examples where the organisation had helped change a person’s life.

“I remember a young man who had been couch surfing and had bi-polar and he’d been to see his local doctor but for whatever reason he couldn’t get a mental health care plan.

“So I called around and found a doctor and he got in to see him,” she said.

“He called a few months later to tell us how he’d been going and it was really pleasing to hear he was travelling much better.”

She said the OzHelp team had been able to put an employee in touch with a hypnotist, paid for by his workplace, so he could quit smoking and there was another client who was referred to a doctor because one of the registered nurses picked up that he had haemophilia.

Ms McDonald said she hoped the team had made a difference to the lives of some Council employees and urged any other business who was interested in the service to look up OzHelp online at ozhelp.org.au

IN GOOD HEALTH: OzHelp registered nurse Suzy Brown checks Orange City Council employee Kim Thompson's blood pressure.