Paediatrics… A Snapshot of 2023

It’s been another successful year for our flagship Paediatric Project, not only having been recognised through the Victorian Early Years Awards, but having also made headway toward internal ambitions for this work to ensure it continues to provide children and families of the Wimmera with what they need, when they need it, where they live.

This project, in partnership with the Royal Children’s Hospital, was never intended to be ‘just another service’ in the ever coming and going, opening and closing, trying and trialling, revolving door of projects and programs that seem to fly in and fly out of places like ours.

So often initiatives are well-intentioned, evidence-based, full of promise, but lacking those magic ingredients that make them ‘stick’ in rural places, not quite marrying with the unique and diverse landscape of rural communities. This project, and By Five more broadly, strives to identify and understand that ‘magic’, the ‘gold’, and aims to remain agile, place-based, and responsive to embedded local services to compliment, support and, where possible, integrate with what exists.

While this work remains responsive to local needs, and evolves with a view to sustainability and longevity to improve outcomes for rural people, it’s been energising to start the year looking back for a moment, and reflecting on how far we have come.