Wyndham council will introduce a maternal and child health (MCH) wellbeing van as part of its early year services.
The decision to introduce MCH was a response to community demand and in consideration of Wyndham’s population growth.
The van will travel across the municipality and provide care to mothers and young children who may be unable to attend health clinics due to their current location or for whom transport is hard access.
Among the key services will be check-ins for children at key stages to monitor their growth and development, as well as providing parenting, family wellbeing and health information to families.
Mayor Mia Shaw said the aim is to offer innovation in service delivery by being able to bring the service directly to the community.
“The MCH van will provide the team with further opportunities to connect with the community in harder to reach places and be flexible and responsive to local needs, addressing both current and future demand for MCH across the municipality,” she said.
She added that the increasing amount of babies born in the municipality was a driver in the decision.
“On average, there are 14 babies born every day in Wyndham, so council has recognised the demand for MCH visits and wanted to increase accessibility to MCH services,” Cr Shaw said.
“The aim is to have it reach the community in family-friendly locations such as play groups, children’s facilities, aquatic venues and parks.”
The van’s weekly locations will be selected strategically to provide care to areas and demographics that may be in service blind spots and the van will attend some major community events to engage with families and support primary caregivers in accessing early year’s services.
