When it comes to the health of remote communities, the team at the Frontier Services Savannah Regional Health Service knows it takes a whole lot of people working together to make a lasting difference.

The award winning team from Savannah Regional Health Service (L-R) Paula Ransom, Jodie Melvin and Anna Burley.It was exactly this approach that was recognised when the Savannah Regional Health Service won the Collaborative Team Award presented at the CRANAplus National Conference in Cairns on 27 October.

The Awards are presented to remote health professionals who have made a significant contribution to improving health outcomes.

Savannah Regional Health Service Team Leader Anna Burley said the award was a tribute to the commitment of the whole community in the Croydon and Etheridge Shires to their health and wellbeing.

“The community wants to learn how to look after themselves. Our role is to empower them to be able to do this. However, we could not provide the service without the support of many people and organisations within the community,” Ms Burley said.

“It is all the little jobs as well as the big jobs people do, like in an emergency providing food and water to those affected. If we need to evacuate a patient, it’s the person who is there to clear the airstrip and check the direction of the wind. It is the person who opens the clinic when the physiotherapist is in town at Einasleigh or Mt Surprise and we cannot be there.”

“For every program we run, we could not run it without everybody pitching in. It is the Distance Education schools, the police, the local councils who maintain the clinic buildings and review the local disaster management plan. Also the Oasis Roadhouse and the Greenvale Pub who open their doors anytime we need to run something out that way. The Department of Health and Ageing provides funding for the service. Without all of this, we could not do everything we do.”

“We also work together with a number of other Frontier Services staff across the region, including the Remote Area Families Service (RAFS), Outback Links, In Home Care and the Rural Family Support Services. This network of services provides a great shelf of support for the community.”

The CRANAplus Conference brought together people involved in delivering health care in remote areas across Australia, including service providers, students, government and policy makers.

The Awards were presented in the Grand Ball Room of The Sebel in Cairns. Ms Burley was present to accept the award on behalf of the Savannah Regional Health Service.