Best native health

By Kath Gannaway
HEALTH programs for indigenous women in Healesville have been given a boost with a grant of $6700 to the Healesville Indigenous Community Services Association (HICSA).
The grant from the Johnstone Gumption Sub-Fund of the Victorian Women’s Benevolent Trust will fund the Women’s Health, Healing and Leadership Circle.
HICSA manager Anne Jenkins said the circle provided an opportunity for local women to learn new skills and improve their health and the health of their families.
“The program has a focus on health literacy and social and emotional well-being, and includes health promotion such as healthy eating and exercise.
Val Johnston, a social worker who initiated the Johnstone Gumption Sub-Fund in 2009 said she was thrilled to be supporting a program which reflected the ideals behind the fund, and lived up to the notion of “gumption”.
The Sub-Fund supports the participation and engagement of women as active citizens in community capacity building and the efforts of indigenous women regarding health literacy in their own communities.
The grant is the first from the fund.
Ms Johnston said she applauded the work being done by HICSA.
“These women have gumption,” she said providing a definition which includes “shrewdness in practical matters, common sense, courage and initiative, enterprise and boldness.”