Making Every Contact Count (MECC)

Why MECC?

There are tens of thousands of staff and volunteers working with older people in South Australia.If each of them had a conversation about health and wellbeing once a fortnight - with a customer, family member or friend - it would create more than a million opportunities a year to improve health and wellbeing across the community.

MECC commenced in the UK in 2008 and in 2012 the National Health Service recommended that all healthcare organisations should make every contact count.

What is MECC?

Rather than telling people what to do, MECC is about recognising opportunities to talk to people about their health and wellbeing using the skills of asking and listening. It is not intended to add to busy workloads - it is about enhancing the conversations that are already taking place.

MECC for older people focuses on lifestyle issues that can make the greatest improvements to health and independent living. Brochures have been prepared on each of the following topics:

Training for staff and volunteers working with older people aims to provide the confidence to engage in conversations about health. The MECC brochures deliver simple health messages to encourage people to change their behaviour, and to direct them to local services that can support them.

How to get involved?

MECC was introduced in South Australia in 2017 as a joint partnership between Meals on Wheels SA, Aged and Community Services Australia and SA Health with support from local councils. Over time SA Health hopes to involve new partners and to broaden MECC to different age groups.

You can obtain free copies of the Make Every Contact Count brochures. Visit the Healthy Living Resources page for more information.

SA Health is unable to provide resources to members of the public or organisations outside of South Australia.  

Training

To enquire about training for your staff/volunteers please contact: