Over the next few months, Latrobe residents with a chronic illness will be able to have their say about how local health providers can improve their services to help them live well.
An initiative of the Latrobe Health Assembly, the Living Well with Chronic Illness project aims to find out how people with diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can live well through better access to services and support.
A small team of trained volunteers will be travelling around the local area to have conversations with people living with these conditions about how they can be supported to manage their illness well.
Volunteer Peer Facilitator Helen said, “community members with any of these five illnesses who are interested in sharing their story should look out for our ‘Living Well with Chronic Illness’ banner in places like libraries, GP clinics, pharmacies, health services and community centres and at local markets and other community events”.
Community members will also be offered the opportunity to participate in a video which will capture people’s stories and will then be shown to health service providers and other organisations working with people with chronic illnesses.
