Bank managers might soon be offering blood tests, on-farm occupational health and safety assessments and advice about mental health services, due to a partnership between one of Australia’s biggest rural banks and a national health body.
Rural Bank, which says its client base includes about 10 per cent of Australian farmers, has partnered with the National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) in a bid to improve health statistics.
As part of the agreement, “frontline” bank staff will be trained in how to recognise and respond to clients suffering from mental or physical illnesses.
NCFH founding director Professor Sue Brumby said it was in recognition of the centre’s core message: profitable farms are entirely dependent on healthy farmers.”
“Good business relies on good health,” she said….
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