Aboriginal #CoronaVirus News Alert No 40 : April 17 #KeepOurMobSafe : #OurJobProtectOurMob : Contributions from @NACCHOChair and ACCHO’s @DeadlyChoices @IUIH_ @Apunipima #SouthWest #Yerin #KatherineWest #Nhulundu #Illawarra #Mulungu and @LowitjaInstitut

COVID-19 and ACCHO Intro video : NACCHO Chair Donnella Mills.

1.Deadly Choices : Australia’s First Urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander COVID-19 Testing Clinic opens in Brisbane .

2.Apunipima ACCHO Cape York welcomes Minister Ken Wyatt’s assurances for securing food and other essentials for remote communities.

3.South West Aboriginal Medical Services ACCHO WA keeping our mob safe.

4.Yerin Eleanor Duncan Aboriginal Health Centre ACCHO rapid response to COVID-19.

5.Katherine West Health Board ACCHO NT creates innovative COVID-19 resources.

6. Nhulundu Health Services Gladstone QLD. opens new Drive-Thru Flu Clinic.

7. Illawarra Aboriginal health worker creates rap video to spread COVID-19 message .

8. Check out this deadly COVID-19 rap from Mulungu ACCHO.

9. Lowitja Chair Pat Anderson and CEO Janine Mohamed introduce ” Survivor COVID19 the musical “.

10.Gallery of COVID-19 on social media images to share.

See how NACCHO protects our mob Corona Virus Home Page

Read all 40 NACCHO Aboriginal Health and Coronas Virus Alerts HERE

COVID-19 and ACCHO Intro video : NACCHO Chair Donnella Mills

1.Deadly Choices : Australia’s First Urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander COVID-19 Testing Clinic

Queensland Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Hon Steven Miles was joined by Member for Longman Terry Young and Deadly Choices Ambassador Steve Renouf at the opening of Australia’s first Commonwealth funded COVID-19 respiratory testing clinic

Pictured above Adrian Carson CEO IUIH ( See TV coverage below )

The clinic, funded by the Commonwealth Government, will provide COIVD-19 testing for up to 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members per day, supporting Moreton Bay region’s Indigenous population.

The Caboolture site was chosen to support the large Indigenous population in the Moreton Bay region, where an estimated 24,000 Indigenous live.

This forms part of IUIH’s wider South East Queensland catchment which is the fastest growing and largest Indigenous region in Australia. South East Queensland is estimated to have close to 100,000 Indigenous people – representing 38% of the entire Queensland and 11% of Australia’s Indigenous population.

The Respiratory clinic will be run by the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH) adjacent to its existing Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service in Caboolture. IUIH’s existing Caboolture clinic is one of five clinics operated by IUIH in the Moreton Bay region and one of 20 clinics throughout its South East Queensland IUIH Network.

This COVID-19 testing clinic is the first of four clinics that will be established across South East Queensland by the IUIH Network, with a second Clinic to commence operations in Woodridge later this week, and Clinics to be established at Booval (West Moreton) and Nerang (Gold Coast).

The Caboolture Respiratory clinic will be dedicated to supporting Indigenous clients and marks a significant milestone in the fight against COVID-19 – being the first Commonwealth funded Indigenous Respiratory clinic of its kind in Australia to support one of the most vulnerable population groups at risk of this pandemic.

With Indigenous people significantly overrepresented in the high risk categories for COVID-19 – including through a much higher burden of respiratory and other chronic diseases – it is critical that services such as this Respiratory Clinic are easily accessible to ensure safe and culturally supportive screening and holistic wrap-around support and follow-up care management.

This is particularly important as many Indigenous people are also at elevated risk of social isolation and basic supports at this time, including if requiring quarantine measures.

The Caboolture Respiratory Clinic has been set up to directly support the government’s priority focus on testing all people with a fever or acute respiratory symptoms in this region. This will not only provide an important early intervention response to affected clients, but help to build a much more comprehensive understanding of COVID-19 prevalence in the community.

IUIH has been working closely with Queensland Health and supported by training from Aspen Medical to ensure that everything about the clinic design and practice adheres to the most stringent medical guidelines and protocols, with staff and client safety of paramount concern.

WATCH TV COVERAGE OF OPENING HERE

2.Apunipima ACCHO Cape York welcomes Minister Ken Wyatt’s assurances for securing food and other essentials for remote communities.

Apunipima Cape York Health Council welcomes Hon. Ken Wyatt’s assurances last week that ensuring a reliable supply of essential goods, groceries, pharmaceuticals and other critical supplies to remote communities during the current COVID-19 pandemic is a high priority for the Australian government.

Across Australia, we’ve been asked not to stockpile so that everyone is looked after and that those who are most disadvantaged such as people on low incomes, elderly people, and people with disabilities don’t miss out.

Equally, we need to ensure that stores in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and other remote areas will still have fair access to wholesale supplies so that people living in these locations don’t miss out.