AAWS Funded AMRRIC Education DVD' Caring for Dogs, Community and Country'

Eight projects across the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy were successful in the AAWS funding round last year which was announced by Federal Minister Tony Burke.

Fortunately AMRRIC, as part of the Companion Animal Working Group, was funded for one of those eight successful projects to produce an educational DVD for Environmental Health Practitioners. It will be an addition to the ‘Dog Health Programs In Indigenous Communities- An Environmental Health Practitioners Guide’.
Recently AMRRIC member Dr Samantha Phelan wrote this guide for Environmental health Practitioners (EHP’s) nationally. Her sister Danita Phelan was the illustrator. This key resource is a reference guide for people wanting to make dogs and people healthier in their own communities or in communities they work in.  It was written for the wide range of people who take part in Environmental Health Programs in communities, such as Indigenous Environmental Health Workers (EHW), Environmental Health Officers (EHO), Area Health Services and Health Boards, Departments of Local Government (DLG), State Government Environmental Health Units and Indigenous Land Councils, to name a few. ‘The book is written to help each of those people to do a better job’.

The AAWS Funded DVD will be a project that involves a number of key players.  This education DVD will enable EHP’s to educate schools, individuals, communities and groups on issues such as Stopping Skin Sores, Stopping Ticks and fleas, the benefits of desexing dogs, Stopping dog bites and what to tell children for staying safe, Stopping Worms in dogs and stopping them getting into people and Stopping dogs getting diarrhoea and spreading germs to people. It is anticipated that the project will be completed by the end of October and launched in darwin in December 2009.