02/03/2021
The Covid-19 pandemic has made life different in so many ways, some good and some not so good. We would like to make the way that health care can be delivered for people who live in rural areas one of the better things to come from the pandemic, but we need help with this.
We are looking for people who tick these boxes:
• Aged 45-70 years old
• Live in an area in NSW that would be considered north of Newcastle and Maitland.
• Do not live in a town of more than 50,000 people (towns like Armidale and Tamworth are ok)
• Think they might have a higher-than-average chance of developing heart disease. This might be you if you already have high blood pressure or blood cholesterol levels, take medication for blood pressure or cholesterol, have diabetes, currently smoke or recently quit, have family members with heart problems, already have a heart problem yourself or have had to go to hospital for a heart-related event.
We would ask that you fill in an online survey for us that asks about the technology you use for communicating with others, how much you like using it and the types of things you use regularly. This will take approximately 15-20 minutes, as the answers are mostly in the form of tick boxes or sliding scales. Or if you prefer, you can also give us this information in an interview. Whichever will be easiest for you. You can even choose to do both! We will use this information to design a service for rural people to be able to get access to high quality nutrition advice before little warnings become serious heart problems. It is very important to us that we design a service that meets the needs of our rural people, so there are also more opportunities to help us do this. If you are interested in being a part of this, or would like further information, please do one of the following: I would like to do the online survey (and maybe the interviews later, not sure):
Go to this website https://redcap.hmri.org.au/surveys/?s=WKRA4F7DX3. This will take you to our online survey and give you more details about what we are asking of you. I would just like to do the interview:
Option 1: Use this use this link https://redcap.hmri.org.au/surveys/?s=TEFD8CRFJL, to take you to our online site to leave your details for the project manager, Tracy Schumacher, to contact you. This online site is secure and is hosted by the Hunter Medical Research Institute
Option 2: Contact the project manager Tracy Schumacher at the Department of Rural Health, University of Newcastle Tracy.Schumacher@newcastle.edu.au | 49216259 and she will arrange to send you the information you need to have to consent to the interviews.
