YCHANGe: Yarriambiack obesity program creating change after one year

The program, Yarriambiack Creating Health, Active, Nourished Generations, known as YCHANGe,  is a partnership between Rural Northwest Health, Deakin University, Dunmunkle Health Services, and Yarriambiack Shire Council.

It has now been one year since the program started and university’s Jill Whelan said she was starting to see results.

The group formed after research showed more than 70 per cent of Yarriambiack adults are overweight or obese, the worst statistics in Victoria.

Yarriambiack also has Victoria’s highest sugar-sweetened beverage consumption rate.

Ms Whelan said YCHANGe aimed to help health services reduce avoidable hospital admissions.

“We’ve introduced seven strategies so far in terms of healthy eating,” she said.

“From next week will start a new focus on barriers that prevent people from physical activity.”

Ms Whelan said physical activity program was about looking beyond organised sport.

“Organised sport is really important but there are also lots of opportunity for incidental or fun activities to engage with people who aren’t involved in sport,” she said.

Ms Whelan said the past year had been very rewarding.

“It’s been a big learning curve for all of us,” she said.

“The benefits are yet to come in terms of core changes to residents’ health.

“We have spent the past year engaging with the community, understanding the problems and getting the right strategy and mechanisms in place.

“We’ve been looking at what will work and what won’t work to try to make things better in the future.”

Ms Whelan said in the past six weeks she had started to see physical changes in the community.

“These are changes that have come about because of YCHANGe,” she said.

Ms Whelan said organisers would continue to roll out healthly food and physical activity strategies to create long term change in the community.

“This is not a short term program,” she said.

Ms Whelan said the program had funding to continue for another 18 months, but she hoped it would run for at least two years.

“We need two years to make a difference,” she said.

“If we finish before then, some things will work but all of our plans to date need another two years to be executed properly.

“The program is about empowering and engaging with the community so they can drive the strategies.”

Ms Whelan said the Department of Health and Human Services, the Royal Flying Doctors Service and Rural Northwest Health had contributed money to the program.

“I want to thank the community for their support so far and I look forward to continuing work with them for another two years,” she said.