Gateway Health’s Community Recovery and Resilience (CRAR) team has learnt more about farming over the past four years than they have in all of their years working in the community health sector.
In recent years, Jarryd Williams, the program manager for Gateway Health’s disaster recovery-focused program, has helped coordinate a team of recovery specialists through bushfire, flood and landslip recovery while also implementing the Building Ovens Murray Ag Sector Resilience Program.
“In disaster recovery, you get to walk beside someone who has lost everything and is in complete despair, to the moment when they have recovered and back on their feet and moving forward,” Mr Williams told the recent Alliance of Rural and Regional Community Health (ARRCH) conference at Creswick.
“Over the past three-and-a-half years, the team and I have had to learn a great deal about farming. We’ve done counselling sessions while ponies and calves are being born; we’ve chased cattle and other things we never anticipated that we would do.”
But being on-farm is an essential part of the service.
“Farming communities and remote communities don’t want to travel two hours to see someone – they want you to be there,” Mr Williams said.
“You being there validates their experience and shows them respect and enables them to open up.
“It’s not like metropolitan areas where people go to services requesting support. Regional and remote communities are used to doing it themselves – they are incredibly resilient and incredibly tough. By going there, we shift the dynamic. We’re on their turf. They can tell us to get off their land if they want, but instead, they open their hearts to us.
“It’s about respect and solidarity – showing people you are there and fighting for them, and we’re here to help, and we’re going to do it side-by-side. It helps to build communities back together.”
The recovery support teams provide an essential point of contact for people trying to reclaim their lives.
“We deal with tradespeople, banks, insurance agencies, government. We coordinate their recovery for them, helping them navigate an often complex system,” Mr Williams said.
“This helps give people the time and space to understand what has happened to them and the next steps they need to take.”
They also notice that disaster shines a light on inequity.
“What it did for the Upper Murray was show that the system is not supporting the communities that need it,” Mr Williams said.
“We were able to work with local governments and Emergency Recovery Victoria on infrastructure that addressed some of that disparity, such as working with Community Business Connect to improve phone reception in the Nariel Valley, allowing people to receive emergency alerts, and helping rural fire brigades update their equipment.
“Recovery from a major disaster is more than just rebuilding a house. For everyone impacted by disaster, there are hundreds of little disasters that sit under that. We get to work with families on these little disasters, such as replacing war medals and wedding photos.”
Disasters also affect others not directly touched by the event.
“We’ve done a lot of work with companies that did clean-ups, retail people who had listened to stories of trauma,” Mr Williams said.
“People pour out their hearts to them and that’s great but vicarious trauma comes into play. Part of disaster recovery work is looking after the wider community.”
Photo: Contributed
Mr Williams told the inaugural ARRCH conference at Creswick that many people remain without permanent accommodation after the fires and floods in the Upper Murray and Shepparton regions, and many say they are “waiting for the next disaster”.
“Every time there is a storm or hint of smoke, people are on the phone to my team,” he said.
“Victoria has been through so much in four years: bushfires, floods, COVID-19, storms, earthquakes. It’s compounded trauma. What we need to do next is be prepared.”
ARRCH and Gateway Health are advocating for embedding core disaster recovery teams in regional areas.
“As well as keeping the knowledge and trust we have gained over the past four years, we have teams that can do risk mitigation and preparation work,” Mr Williams said.
“Research shows that if you spend more on risk mitigation and preparation, the amount spent on recovery is significantly less. Those core workers can respond on the spot and provide immediate experienced disaster recovery assistance, which saves lives and results in more positive recovery.”
Jacki Eckert, Gateway Health’s executive director of population health, said the climate change threat was shifting the way communities and organisations need to think and prepare.
“Inequity and inequality create the conditions that render people exposed and vulnerable to disasters,” Ms Eckert said.
“Disasters also disproportionately impact the most at-risk people, thus worsening inequality. The events are compounding and traumatising.
“We have developed and tested a trauma-informed model of recovery support across Victoria. It allows a local response from trusted organisations when there is a small or a large disaster, builds preparedness between disasters and actively assists in a coordinated recovery response.”
Ms Eckert said embedding core teams of experienced staff meant people were supported for as long as they needed, not for as long as the funding lasted.
“When short-term funding finishes, our experience and relationships are at risk of being lost, and it would be difficult to meet community expectation of help and support,” she said.
“Core teams in community health will ensure the spotlight remains on addressing inequity and connecting people with the services they need. Local knowledge means we can continue to work across communities between disasters to build resilience and an effective recovery response.”
Current funding for disaster recovery support will cease at the end of June 2024. ARRCH is working with government departments, local government and Community Health First to advocate for the state government to expand the program by embedding a permanent recovery workforce.
