Are You Taking Your Medication Correctly?

Did you know that 1.3 million Australians living in rural and remote areas don’t take their medicines at all or as intended?

Did you know that 72,500 Aussies living in rural and remote areas are admitted to hospital each year due to medicine-related problems?

Were you aware that the rates of preventable hospital admissions for Indigenous Australians is three times higher than for non-Indigenous Australians?

Not many of us are, but that could all change thanks to free education workshops conducted by MedicinesED in Harden and Boorowa next month.

One of the independent pharmacists of MedicinesED, Sue Brown said that the workshops held in Harden earlier this year were a huge success and they were thrilled to be coming back in November. “(Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network) MPHN has given us a grant to run workshops in Harden and Boorowa,” Ms Brown said.

“This will be the first time for Boorowa so the workshop will be very similar to what we did in Harden in June. Because we’ve been to Harden before we can delve deeper into medicines for mental health, pain and lung disease. MPHN identified these as important areas they are working on across the region.”

The content for Harden will be slightly different, focusing more on medicines for mental health, pain and lung disease (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis, emphysema or chronic asthma).

People will learn how to:

• Find out more about managing their medicines
• Be more confident using their medicines
• Know where to find good information
• Know what questions to ask their doctor, pharmacist or nurse
• Make better decisions about their health
• People who attended the first education workshops are very welcome to participate in this one

MedicinesED is run by three independent pharmacists who strongly believe that knowledge, understanding and confidence can help people make good decisions about the medicines they take and that this can have positive impacts on their health.

The free two-hour medicines education workshops will be held in:

• Harden - Friday, November 25 at Fire Control Centre, 4559 Burley Griffin Way, Cunningar
• Boorowa - Monday, November 28 at Boorowa Ex-Services & Citizens Club, 55/59 Pudman Street, Boorowa.

Grab some morning tea at 9:30 am and settle in for the workshops which will commence at 10 am, followed by a light lunch. These workshops have been made possible by funding from MPHN through the Australian Government’s PHN Program. They are also supported by the Murrumburrah-Harden and Boorowa Rotary Clubs. An online version of the workshop is also being developed and will be available early next year.

People can register by:

• emailing info@medicinesed.com.au
• registering online via the ‘Eventbrite’ website (search for MedicinesED), or
• phoning 0406 730 656.

There are posters going up around Harden and Boorowa advertising the workshops and people can also scan the QR code on those to register too.

MedicinesED is independent and not aligned with any pharmaceutical company, private pharmacy or any commercial products. Visit the website www.medicinesed.com.au or follow on Facebook.

• Topics:

• Health & Wellness
• Workshops