United in health

Story Sabrina Rashid

Associate Professor Elizabeth Kendall will lead a $1.35 million Australian Research Council (ARC) project in partnership with Queensland Health (QH) focusing on community-based chronic disease research in the Logan-Beaudesert area.

Associate Professor Kendall said she was delighted the project had received support since there was clearly a lack of integrated health services in the community in the face of growing chronic diseases.

"People with chronic diseases such as diabetes, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders are currently supported by too many dispersed service providers leading to delays, gaps and duplication of services,"
Associate Professor Kendall said.

Chronic Disease Place Based Initiative (CDPBI) is a public-private partnership that aims to deliver integrated health planning and well-coordinated services in the local area. Associate Professor Kendall said that with the CDPBI initiative, for the first time, academics, GPs, community health carers and the local and state governments had come together to govern local health needs.

"The project will support the work of the Logan-Beaudesert CDPBI initiative, which aims to prevent and manage chronic diseases in the area," she said.

"We are gathering chronic disease-related data and developing an information platform, so critical knowledge is shared and available to those who need it for health planning," Associate Professor Kendall said.

"We are also investigating processes in order to improve decision-making and deliver better services for chronic disease patients."

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research), Professor Lesley Johnson, said the project demonstrated the University's strength in collaborative and socially engaged research.

"The researchers, based at the communityfocused Logan campus, are part of the locality now and have the opportunity to actively contribute to health planning in the area," Professor Johnson said.

"The government's financial support reinforces the growing reputation of the University's health group, one of the fastest growing in the country."