| ‘4000 For Health' is a landmark public health study which will give us a better understanding of the causes of heart disease and type 2 diabetes - potentially fatal diseases which have a growing impact on our community, but which may be preventable. |
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The project is called ‘4000 For Health' because, for it to be a success, we need 4000 Victorians to volunteer to take part. These volunteers will undergo a comprehensive health check, and a series of telephone interviews to establish the range and relative importance of factors that contribute to the development of heart disease and diabetes.
This information will be used by health authorities to maximise the quality of health information and health care available to all Victorians. We're all depending on the ‘4000 For Health'.
Who will the 4000 be?
We have randomly selected 50 neighbourhoods, half in metropolitan Melbourne and half in regional and rural Victoria, to take part in this important health study.
Between now and early 2010 our researchers will door-knock each home in those areas - about 11,000 homes in total - to see if someone within that household fits the study criteria and is willing to sign up to be one of the ‘4000 For Health'.
Only people who live in the randomly selected neighbourhoods will be invited to take part in this study. However, every Victorian will be able to monitor our progress through ongoing media coverage as we count up to 4000. And every Victorian will benefit from the results of this unique and crucial public health initiative.
4000 for Health has begun
The project began on Anzac Day, Saturday April 25, when researchers commenced door-knocking in our first round of randomly selected project neighbourhoods.
The next neighbourhoods to take part include...
The first round of neighbourhoods include Belmont, Kennington, Richmond and Port Melbourne.
If you who live in one of the 11,000 homes across Victoria that ‘4000 For Health' will be recruited from, you will receive advance notice: check your letterbox for a letter from Victoria's Chief Health Officer, Dr John Carnie. And keep checking this site to discover the location of the next round of target neighbourhoods. We'll be updating this information fortnightly throughout the project.
Project partners
‘4000 For Health' is an initiative of the Department of Human Services (DHS), the State's largest government department committed to enhancing and protecting the health and wellbeing of all Victorians.
The project is being driven on behalf of DHS by the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, the first health and medical research institute in Australia to tackle the deadly trio of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Our work extends from the laboratory to wide-scale community studies.
The fieldwork component of this project is being conducted by I-View, a data collection agency which specialises in market and social research. If you live in one of the project's 50 target neighbourhoods the person who knocks on your door to provide information about ‘4000 For Health' will be an I-view researcher.
Kevin Sheedy
Kevin Sheedy is an inductee of the Australian Football League's Hall of Fame, a Legend of the Essendon 
Football Club and an Australian Thinker of the Year nominee. He is also one of Victoria's most recognisable, respected and loved figures and a man committed to a healthy lifestyle for all Australians so that they may live long, and well, and at their full potential. We are delighted to have him on board as a supporter and endorsee of ‘4000 For Health'
A player and coach over five decades, Kevin has an unsurpassed record of involvement in 1000 games and eight premierships. He played in three grand finals for the Richmond Football Club before joining Essendon as Senior Coach. During his 27 years of continuous coaching the club completed in 19 finals series, contesting seven grand finals and winning four.
When Sheedy - better known as ‘Sheeds' - arrived at Essendon in 1981 the club's membership was 15,000. Last year, in recognition of his determined campaign to make the Essendon Football Club a national brand, Sheeds was given the honour of being the club's 40,000th member. Today, he has returned to a coaching role at the Richmond FC where his playing career began.