From rural and remote towns to big city locations, the Jean Hailes team attends and participates in events all around Australia. Read about our latest adventures.
In September 2019, Jean Hailes for Women's Health attended the 26th Queensland Rural Regional and Remote Women's Network conference. (That's us – Jo and Renea – above in the striped t-shirt and purple t-shirt.)
Held annually since 1993, this year's QRRRWN event was held in the wonderful border town of Goondiwindi – pronounced gundah-windy by the locals.
After arriving in Brisbane and picking up a car – many thanks to Mazda Australia for the loan of a fabulous CX5 – we drove two hours to Oakey to say hello to the staff of Goondir Health Services.
Goondir provides health care services primarily to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the region. On the day of our visit, they had just held a Women's Health Week morning tea and health check clinic for local Indigenous women.
After our visit at Goondir, we then drove 2.5 hours to Goondiwindi.
Jean Hailes for Women's Health first visited Goondiwindi in 2017, as part of a 3-day road-trip we did with the Heart of Australia mobile health truck. The Heart Truck delivers monthly specialist medical investigation and treatment clinics to regional, rural and remote area communities across Queensland.
By coincidence, on this trip the Heart Truck was again in Goondiwindi, so we made sure we popped by the local sports field (its usual stopping place) to say hello.
On our last visit we spent time with Heart Truck #1, but this time it was the newer Heart Truck #2, a second road train now helping Heart #1 to service an even wider expanse of outback Queensland. From a women's health perspective, it was heartening to see Heart #2 features a new gynaecology consulting suite, to further help meet the health needs of women in the outback.
We also visited the Goondiwindi Hospital to share some Women's Health Week bags.
The QRRRWN conference, held at the Waggamba Community Cultural Centre, was a terrific event, attended by around 150 women and schoolgirls.
Panels and workshops ranged from women's health (which we took part in) to leadership, from personal growth to photography, and more. Many local artists and business owners also held stalls. However, the conference's general focus was on how to keep rural women healthy, inspired and connected to their communities – which, in the midst of one of the worst droughts in recent memory – becomes all the more vital.
