Mansfield District Hospital

Programs

Cardiac Rehabilitation Program

Cardiac disease can be a life-threatening and debilitating condition that may change your life. Our Cardiac Rehabilitation program dispels some of the myths surrounding cardiac disease and can help you back on the road to recovery.

Cardiac Rehabilitation is the process of helping individuals return to the best possible health in the presence of heart disease. Emphasis is placed on helping participants increase their ability to handle work and activity and improve their well-being and awareness of health problems. Education sessions cover anatomy and physiology of the heart and cardiovascular system, the why and how of exercise, getting back to normal activities, how to maintain change, diet modification, management of stress and depression and medications.

Participating in the course allows the health professionals to ensure you receive the best physical, social and mental recovery. These ‘experts' includes the doctor, cardiac nurse, physiotherapist, dietician, social worker and pharmacist. The education sessions allow people to make informed choices and lifestyle changes that may ultimately reduce their risk of a further cardiac event.

The program helps to maximize your quality of life and utilizes resources available in the community that may permit an earlier return to work. It also helps to increase social functioning, decreases depression and anxiety, increases capacity for exercise and allows participants to share with others who have had similar experiences.

The course runs for six weeks and comprises thirteen exercise and seven educations sessions. Mondays are set aside for exercise sessions and Thursdays cover both exercise and education sessions.

Your treating hospital doctor will refer you to the cardiac rehabilitation program closest to your place of residence. Any patient who participates in cardiac rehabilitation will benefit from the positive support and will be able to make informed choices about their future lifestyle.

For further information please contact Cardiac Rehabilitation Coordinator or Physiotherapist at the hospital on (03) 5775 2111 during business hours.

Falls Prevention Program

Falls account for the majority of injuries sustained by patients and residents in a hospital or residential aged care environment. Despite our age, we are all at risk of falling at some time in our life.

Falls Prevention has become the major focus of our quality activities during the 2004-2005 year. To support this program, a Falls Prevention Coordinator, was appointed in March 2005 following the successful implementation of the falls prevention program last year. The Coordinator is responsible for coordinating the program across the three campuses of the organization - the Hospital, Buckland House Nursing Home and Bindaree Hostel. In her role, the Coordinator continually monitors the type of falls, the number of falls, the possible reasons for falls, and devises strategies to prevent or reduce falls from occurring.

Nursing and allied health staff are responsible for implementing those strategies, which, because they are individually designed, will be different for different people. The Falls Prevention program also aims to capture data from what we term ‘near miss falls'. Near miss falls are where "a patient / resident stumbles or nearly falls to the ground".

Specialised equipment also plays an important role in helping to reduce the number of falls. A number of low/low electric beds, those that go almost to the ground, have been purchased and those patients/residents assessed as ‘high falls risks' will be allocated to those beds.

In the nursing home and hostel the falls prevention program has provided a number of residents with devices called ‘hip protectors'. Hip protectors help to reduce the potential for a fracture in the event of a fall.

Falls risk is identified on admission and suitable prevention strategies are initiated to ensure maximum patient/resident safety.

For further information, contact the Falls Prevention Coordinator at the hospital on (03) 5775 2111.

Needle Syringe Program - NSP

The Mansfield District Hospital operates a needle and syringe program to enable injecting drug users maintain a safe environment for themselves and the community.

The needle and syringe program is designed to minimise the transmission of blood borne diseases by supplying sterile needles, syringes and condoms to injecting drug users. Our program operates in conjunction with education programs and referral services.

The hospital encourages injecting drug users to:

Correctly dispose of their needles and syringes
Use the provided sharps containers and either return them to the hospital or to other registered providers in the area
A sharps disposal container is located outside the accident and emergency department at the hospital. Those participating in the program can collect their consumables at any time from the hospital but people are encouraged to come to the hospital during daylight hours.

For further information, contact the NSP Coordinator at the hospital on (03) 5775 2111.