Mum’s the word

By Rebecca Fraser
DOVETON families are set to benefit following a boost in the suburb’s maternal health services.
Casey Council will spend $50,000 to improve support services at the Autumn Place Maternal Health Centre in the next few months, creating two new consulting rooms for an extra nurse and other health specialists.
City of Casey manager of family and children’s services, Russell Hopkins, said council already had a maternal child health nurse offering a drop-in and outreach service from community rooms at Doveton North Primary School, as well as one nurse at Autumn Place.
He said these services would continue to operate in conjunction with the expansion of the Autumn Place centre.
The $50,000 had originally been allocated for a centre in Coral Drive, Hampton Park, but Mr Hopkins said the council had decided to reallocate the funding to Doveton after looking at birth notices in the area and deciding that Hampton Park’s needs were already being met.
Mr Hopkins said the expanded Doveton service would allow a greater range of services for children and families in the Doveton area.
Last year, the Maternal Health Centre Service targeted Doveton as a high-need area as part of the implementation of the council’s Best Start project.
This initiative aimed to enhance the provision of early-year services to families within the city, particularly with regard to some of the more vulnerable and hard to reach families in the Doveton area.