Our future Aboriginal doctors and health workers pictured above arriving in Canberra
30 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander senior high school students from around the country have been selected to be part of the inaugural National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Careers Development Program: Murra Mullangari – Pathways Alive and Well.
The Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association President, Dr Tammy Kimpton said “it is extremely important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to know the wide range of rewarding careers in health that are open to them, from a very early age”
“Murra Mullangari is just one way of empowering our young people to achieve their goals.”
Murra Mullangari is an initiative of the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association, designed and delivered in partnership with the following Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak health organisations:
o National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
o Indigenous Allied Health Australia
o Indigenous Dentists Association Australia
o National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker Association
o Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses; and
o Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association
17 year old Ms Annie Ingui, a Torres Strait Islander student from Queensland said “I am interested in pursuing a health career because I have always wanted to make a difference in Indigenous communities.
I think it is important to make other Indigenous mothers comfortable while they are having their baby and Indigenous women are most likely going to want an Indigenous midwife”.
“Murra Mullangari will be an important experience for me because it’s going to help me go further in being a midwife”. Murra Mullangari comprises of a 5 day residential program and follow-up mentoring component. Illustrating the high demand for such a program, around 200 application were received for the 30 places.
AIDA CEO, Mr Romlie Mokak said “The high demand reflects the fact that Murra Mullangari is a program run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people.
The participants will be immersed in a culturally, educationally and professionally empowering space”.
The Program will encourage Indigenous students to pursue a career in health and support transitions from secondary school toward careers in health. The program aims to increase awareness of pathways into the health workforce, identify common educational barriers and build strong networks.
For further information visit www.aida.org.au/murramullangari
Future Indigenous health leaders get a taste of medicine
Monday 15 April 2013
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The Medical School welcomed 30 young Indigenous students to the campus to give them a taste of what it’s like to study medicine at ANU as part of a program to bolster numbers of Indigenous health professionals.
The program, called Murra Mullangari – Pathways Alive and Well, is led by the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association and aims to get Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in years ten to twelve to pursue careers in health. The two-part program involves a week-long residential in Canberra followed by a five-month mentoring program when the high schoolers return home.
The students completed the residential part of the program last week, where they met with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders, getting practical advice on pursuing a health career, and visited national institutions such as Australian Parliament House, the National Museum of Australia, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. The students also attended sessions at ANU and the University of Canberra, to learn more about health related tertiary programs.
Gaye Doolan, Indigenous Health Project Officer with the ANU Medical School who has been instrumental in coordinating the students’ visit to ANU says “while visiting us on campus, the students visited the Tjabal Centre to learn about the kind of support offered to Indigenous and Torres Strait Island students at ANU. The group then toured the campus before meeting current students at the Medical School and doing some interactive activities.”
“Programs like these are important because they offer students the opportunity to experience life at a university and what they have to offer. It also allows the students an opportunity to network and build relationships with like-minded students and their mentors ”
In a few years’ time, the campus might see these future leaders in Indigenous health again, this time as ANU students on the road to a rewarding career in health.