As a healthcare provider and key partner in our local community, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District is committed to reducing our environmental footprint to create a sustainable health system.
We’re actively working to strategically address the challenges of tomorrow and the impacts of localised climate change on our ability to deliver high quality healthcare services into the future.
These efforts have received a boost with news that an innovative sustainability project from the District has been awarded funding from the NSW Health Sustainable Futures Innovation Fund.
One of 17 projects selected to receive funding, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District’s virtual interpreting service improves access to healthcare for patients, families and carers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and the deaf community while reducing travel emissions.
Senior Multicultural Project Officer, Luke O’Connell from the District’s Multicultural Health Service explains the funding will help to expand the use of virtual health interpreters.
“Approximately 22 per cent of the District’s population is born overseas and 135 languages are spoken. We are also home to a large refugee and asylum seeker population with complex health, social and medical needs,” says Luke.
“With the funding we will be able to reduce interpreter travel which will have an impact on reducing carbon emissions each year, as well as a significant saving in travel costs for the District.”
Work has commenced at the project site, Nepean Hospital Women and Children’s Outpatient Department. The service is expected to benefit from increased availability and accessibility of video interpreters. The project will be a joint initiative with Multicultural Health, the Virtual Care team, and the University of Sydney’s Visual Telehealth Lab.
The funding will help purchase new equipment, assign a dedicated virtual care staff member to implement and support the adoption of video interpreting, and identify the research opportunities to help us further understand crucial carbon emissions reductions throughout the life of the project.
