This newsletter provides an update on the Department of Health & Ageing’s Health Heroes campaign, which aims to encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students to consider a career in health.

This year the Health Heroes campaign was a proud sponsor of Vibe Alive, which is a fun two day festival for young Australians of all backgrounds celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and promoting school attendance, retention and healthy lifestyles.

Following the Port Hedland event in June, the campaign’s involvement in the festivals continued in Townsville on 26 and 27 July and wrapped up with the final event in Bendigo on 8 August. Health Hero, medical student and hip-hop artist Joel Wenitong performed at the opening and closing ceremonies, and talked to students, teachers and parents about the need for more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to take up jobs in health.

During the day ‘Health Heroes’ from the local Townsville and Bendigo areas worked with Joel to engage with students and encourage them to consider a career in health. Representing a range of professions including mental health workers, physical activity and nutrition workers, paramedics and medical students, these ‘Health Heroes’ also spoke with teachers and provided them with resource kits to support in-class and career guidance activities.

Students were also encouraged to think about careers in health through the incorporation of Health Heroes messaging into the festival’s Move It Mob Style hip-hop workshops. Overall, the Health Heroes campaign was able to engage directly with more than 5,000 primary and secondary students across Vibe Alive.

During August the Health Heroes campaign distributed campaign materials to 150 Aboriginal Medical Services (AMS) around Australia. This included Health Heroes posters to be displayed around each centre, and “Genie” comic books (developed to inspire young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to take up careers in health and community services) to be placed in each AMS as reading material.

The campaign is also in the process of contacting Universities and TAFEs to provide a range of resources for engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in recruitment activities or during in-school visits. These resources include:

• Health Heroes campaign brochures – encouraging students to consider a career in health and visit the Health Heroes website.
• Health Heroes campaign posters – targeted at the secondary target audience, influencers that can be placed around campus, in waiting rooms and other communal spaces.
• Health Heroes career quiz – based on the interactive career quiz on the campaign website, this quiz is designed to provide a selection of recommended health jobs based on the skills and interests of participants and direct them to the Health Heroes website.
• Lesson plans for teachers – providing suggestions to help teachers incorporate Health Heroes campaign resources into classroom activities.

If you or your organisation are interested in ordering any of these resources, please visit the Health Heroes website at www.australia.gov.au/healthheroes, or email healthheroes@health.gov.au to place an order.

The Health Heroes career quiz is an interactive resource available on the Health Heroes website.This quiz provides a selection of recommended health jobs based on the preferences of participants. A shortened mobile version of the career quiz is also available for people with smartphones.

The Health Heroes career quiz is a great resource for anyone considering a career in the health sector. We encourage you to share this quiz broadly with friends, family and colleagues, and anyone who could be interested in getting into the health sector.

The Health Heroes website also recently launched a ‘career pathways tool’ that provides the opportunity for students to map out career paths for various health professions based on education levels, qualifications and work experience.

Recognising the range of pathways students can take to achieve their career goals; this tool provides them with simple steps for working out where they are now and what options are available for pursuing the wide range of health careers available.

There are a number of ways that you can get involved in supporting the activities and key messages of the Health Heroes campaign:

1. Link your organisation’s website to the Health Heroes website
   We have a developed a web badge that can be provided to your organisation if you are interested in linking your organisation’s website to the Heath Heroes website. Please email us on healthheroes@health.gov.au for further information.
2. Stakeholder activities
   If you have any upcoming events, let us know about them! A range of resources have been developed and may be able to support your event. Please email us on healthheroes@health.gov.au and let us know what you have planned.
3. Share this newsletter and our website address with your networks
   Please hit share to forward this newsletter to interested friends, contacts and colleagues. If you are interested in being added to the mailing list, please email your details to us at healthheroes@health.gov.au.
4. Use and promote Health Heroes resources
   Visit the Health Heroes website at www.australia.gov.au/healthheroes, or email healthheroes@health.gov.au to place your order for a range of Health Heroes resources