January, February & March

A busy start to 2025 for By Five!

2025 is a BIG year for By Five as we navigate our next phase, following the cessation of our original grant funding from the Victorian Government.

Many of you will have received an invitation to our online community event asking you to ‘Back By Five’ and hear firsthand some of the impacts of the work we have been involved in over the past three and a half years. Information to register is below.

By Five is not just any initiative, it is where your on-the-ground pressure points, ideas and thoughts as local people have shaped our thinking on how we can actually improve outcomes for children, families and our wonderful communities. We have been inundated by calls, emails and conversations asking ‘what we can do?’ to maintain the financial investment in By Five to support us to finish what we’ve started. By registering and logging on to this event you will be supporting this work, and we send a big ‘THANK YOU’ to those who have already registered and shared this with their networks. We know that you don’t have to be a parent to realise the impact that thriving children will have on our region’s future.

Despite uncertainties around funding, the team have been busily going about what we do best – making the Wimmera the best place to raise a child! We’ve been out and about, with the National PLACE (Partnerships for Local Action and Community Empowerment) roadshow kicking off in Hopetoun, Royal Far West CEO, Jacquie Emery, touring Southern Mallee schools, where their work is literally changing the lives of children, and our RCH Paediatricians once again hitting the highway and meeting with local colleagues in several of our towns.

An enormous shout out to all the women who shared their stories and experiences of pregnancy and birth across the Wimmera. Being able to elevate and collate your voices has been powerful and has formed a part of our submission to the Victorian Maternity Taskforce. We have also been crunching data from 2024 on our Paediatric Project and Early Childhood Education landscape, reflecting on the experiences of our RCH Paediatricians, highlighting rural models of care, such as that of West Wimmera Health Services Maternity and Early Years Service, and supporting professionals through the horrific events of the Summer bushfires, which impacted and continues to impact so many across our region.

We look forward to seeing you all online this Tuesday.
 
~ The By Five Team