Providing Services to Disadvantaged Families in the Bush
The long history of the Royal Queensland Bush Children’s Health Scheme is one of change and evolution and it remains vitally important BUSHkids continues to grow and evolve its services to meet the changing needs of children and families living in Queensland’s regional, rural and remote communities. The past year has seen probably the most rapid period of change since I became CEO, and the introduction of new services and the organisation’s involvement with the provision of NDIS Early Childhood Services for young children with developmental delay, will undoubtedly see the organisation evolve further over the coming 12 months.
However, while the organisation is very different from the one I joined six years ago, the heart of what we do remains unchanged. BUSHkids continues to support the health and wellbeing of children and families who through availability or affordability are unable to access services locally. Shane’s story[1], from one of our speech pathologists in Mount Isa, tells how we continue to provide much needed support to disadvantaged kids.
“It’s very special to be able to provide our services free of charge to families who would otherwise be unable to afford support for their kids. I have been working with Shane, a five-year-old little boy who was 95% echolalic when he came to us, which means he constantly repeated words and phrases said by other people and had little speech of his own. This resulted in behavioural problems and difficulties at school. The OT and I worked together to help Shane. We introduced a core word board to help him communicate and through therapy and support from his parents his echolalia has almost disappeared. Shane is now able to form sentences using his core word board, request help, is better able to take part in classroom activities at school and his behaviour has improved significantly. Being able to play a part in helping a child reach their communication potential is something very special!”
When I read Shane’s story, I was struck by the passion of our staff to help children and families who otherwise couldn’t afford support, and how their work really does change young lives for the better.
You can help us continue to provide support to disadvantaged children like Shane. Any gift of $2 or more which you are able to give will help us, and to make donation easier, you can now give online through our website. Just go to bushkids.org.au and click on the ‘Donate Now’ button.
[1] Name changed to protect the client’s identity.
Carlton Meyn
Chief Executive Officer
