• Culture and Country important to health
• ACCHO’s new health and wellbeing centre
• Lethal gaps in remote health services
• Mental health treatments not working
• Public health measure looks like profiling
• Strong Mob Health Awareness Campaign
• ATSIEB gives seat at ACT policy table
• Ceduna health clinic a ‘ticking time bomb’
• RACGP award nominations open
• New process for job advertising

Culture and Country important to health

Dr Janine Mohamed, a Narungga Kaurna woman and CEO of the Lowitja Institute, and her colleague Nicole Bowman, a Wiradjuri woman and senior policy advisor at the Institute have written an article for Croakey Health Media titled Heal Country – at timely call for action and justice. They congratulate the National NAIDOC Committee for the 2021 NAIDOC theme, Heal Country! saying this year’s theme is a timely reminder for all Australians about the importance of greater climate action and what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ wisdom, knowledges and practices can offer our collective efforts for climate justice.

To heal Country, we also need to understand the importance of culture and Country to our health and wellbeing.

Dr Ray Lovett’s work on the cultural determinants of health, through Mayi Kuwayu: the National Study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing tells us why this is critical. It is showing clearly how being unable to express our culture has negatively affected our health and wellbeing. It also tells us – and it’s a message for all Australians – that if we take care of Country, Country takes care of us.

To view the article in full click here.

ACCHO’s new health and wellbeing centre

Yerin Eleanor Duncan Aboriginal Health Services recently bought the now vacant Japara aged care facility in Mardi, with plans to transform it into a health and wellbeing centre. The new centre will house all services, except the dental clinic, currently available at the Yerin Eleanor Duncan Aboriginal Health Service in Wyong.

CEO, Belinda Field, said the purchase was self-determining and hoped the fit-out of the new centre would be complete in two years. Yerin’s Business Manager, Paul Hussein, said it would be an advantage to the community, allowing the organisation to expand their services. “We will be relocating our staff to the new facility, this includes our general practice, mental health clinic and our drug and alcohol clinic,” he said. “We’ll also have our family preservation program, our recently acquired homeless support program, as well as our NDIS community programs at the new centre.”

Hussein said that the largest obstacle so far was acquiring funding to complete the move, which he expects will cost between $2m and $3m. “We’re looking for support to help fund this move,” he said. “We’re currently going through the development application process and we’re working with the local state and federal Members of Parliament, and the State Government will put in a bit too. “We’re excited to get the new centre up and running as a lot of people know the Japara aged care home and have had family members live there.”

To view the article in full click here.

Lethal gaps in remote health services

When Dr Seema Basil started work as a GP at Mawarnkarra Health Service in Roebourne (Ieramagadu, in the local Ngarluma language), a small community in WA’s north-west, just over seven years ago, there was an effective support system in place for former inmates of the local prison. Two staff members at Mawarnkarra, an ACCHO, were dedicated to supporting people who had been released from Roebourne Regional Prison, which is on the outskirts of the small town, more than 1,500 kilometres north of Perth.

The program was funded by the WA Country Health Service under the Footprints to Better Health Program. Dr Basil said “It was really useful because when you got a discharge summary, you could engage the team to go and reach out to this person. Fast forward to 2021 and program is no longer funded. Funding was discontinued in 2015 after the Holeman Report, an external review of WA’s State-funded Aboriginal Health Programs.” For the tiny rural community this lack of support seems particularly unjust, with more than 75% of people in Roebourne Regional Prison identifying as Aboriginal.

It was here, in 1983, that a 16-year-old Yindjibarndi boy, John Pat, died, sparking the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC), which handed down its findings 30 years ago. One of the Commission’s critical recommendations was that Aboriginal Health Services be included in health planning decisions in prisons.

To read the article in full click here.

Mental health treatments not working

A University of Queensland study is calling for changes to the way depression is treated in Indigenous communities in Australia. UQ Rural Clinical School researcher Dr. Bushra Nasir said the research has found that current treatments for Indigenous Australians are not working.

“Mainstream treatment models fail to incorporate the Indigenous understanding of mental health,” Dr. Nasir said. “Our results show that treating depression in Indigenous communities should extend beyond just clinical approaches. Retaining culture, spiritual beliefs, autonomy and a connection to Country will have a significant impact on improving Indigenous mental health and wellbeing.”

Dr. Nasir said there’s also emerging evidence of the link between health and Indigenous connections to traditional grounds. “Culture and identity were found to be central towards perceptions of health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians, not just individually, but as a community,” she said. “Rates of mental disorders for those residing on Country have been identified as about half of those in mainstream communities.

To read the article in full click here.

Public health measure looks like profiling

Health and human rights leaders have expressed alarm at the NSW’s decision to send in police to ensure COVID-19 restriction compliance in south-western Sydney, when no such action was taken in the more well-heeled eastern suburbs where the outbreak began.

Policing in the pandemic has targeted culturally and linguistically diverse communities, many of whom already have lived experience of profiling, trauma and oppression at the hands of law enforcement. Now, as Sydney battles to stop the spread of COVID-19, we are seeing an asserted escalation of police presence in some of Sydney’s most culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

According to Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine, CEO, Health Justice Australia and a criminologist who works with health and legal assistance services across Australia we can’t ignore the resounding lesson from the pandemic – public health messages, backed up by culturally appropriate services, improve access to healthcare and, through that, improved health outcomes.

We need public debate to recognise the inequities that lead to disproportionate impacts of the pandemic. We need health, social and economic policies to address the underlying drivers of these inequities, from poor quality housing to insecure work. Until then, policing compliance of public health measures is likely to alienate and isolate communities at a time we need trust and connectedness the most.

GP Dr Tim Senior added “If the police are your language and communication channel for public health messaging, then you are speaking the wrong language and using the wrong channel for public health messaging.”

To view the article in full click here.

Strong Mob Health Awareness Campaign

Hunter Primary Care has created an exciting new health awareness campaign, titled ‘Strong Mob’. The campaign is directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth to encourage young mob to visit a clinic once a year for a  health check, also known in the medical profession as the ‘715 health check’.

The campaign features a series of videos and posters of four key Aboriginal influencers, Kobie Dee, BIRDZ, Naomi Wenitong and Dr Joel Wenitong (The Last Kinection), who are well-established in the Australian Aboriginal hip-hop music scene. These influencers share their personal stories in regard to the importance of their health and wellbeing, their connection to country, culture and community. The Strong Mob campaign has been launched across social media sites Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube.

Supporting ‘Closing the Gap’ initiatives, Strong Mob has been created by young Aboriginal people for young Aboriginal people.  The campaign will aim to increase the numbers of Aboriginal children and youth groups presenting for annual 715 health checks, more specifically, children from 18% to 46% and youth from 17% to 42%, by 2023.

To view the media release full here.

ATSIEB gives a seat at ACT policy table

As the Commonwealth argues over a voice to Parliament for Indigenous Australians, the ACT’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community is quietly electing the next round of representatives to ATSIEB, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body. ATSIEB was constituted in 2008 and represents all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Territory, reflecting that in addition to traditional owners, there are many Indigenous people who have come here for education, work and other reasons.

“We are unique in having a voice to government in the ACT,” says Katrina Fanning, the Elected Body’s chair for the last term and a former ACT Australian of the Year. “No other mechanism in Australia has the legislative accountability that we have. A few statutory authorities have narrow, specific areas of influence, but the Elected Body’s role is across the whole of government in the ACT. “We listen to issues in our community, look at what’s happening or not happening and work through a formal agreement and governance arrangements to make the necessary changes.”

Fanning says that ATSIEB has been an important mechanism for giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a seat at the policy table in the ACT. In turn, the Elected Body is accountable to its community.

The big picture priorities are around health, wellbeing and education. Important structural changes have been implemented on ATSIEB’s advice, including ensuring that a portion of human services – like out of home care, youth services and drug and alcohol programs – can be delivered by Aboriginal-controlled organisations.

To view the article in full click here.

Ceduna clinic a ‘ticking time bomb’

An Aboriginal health service in Ceduna says its government-owned building is a “ticking time bomb” riddled with asbestos and mould, but both the state and federal governments have failed to heed calls for funding to build a new clinic. Yadu Health Aboriginal Corporation says between 30 to 40% of the SA Health-owned building out of which it runs its services is deemed unsafe due to water damage, asbestos and mould.

The ACCHO, which services Ceduna as well as surrounding communities such as Koonibba and Scotdesco in the state’s west, says it has repeatedly raised the building’s dilapidated condition with several state and federal ministers. It says it has applied for multiple government grants to help it fund a new clinic – estimated to cost up to $15 million – but its applications were rejected because it does not own the land and SA Health has until recently only offered short-term leases.

To view the article in full click here.

RACGP award nominations open

It’s time to celebrate excellence in general practice – nominations for the 2021 RACGP Awards are now open. The RACGP Awards celebrate exceptional individuals in Australian general practice for their outstanding achievements and contribution to the health of their community.

RACGP Rural Health Awards

RACGP Rural provides the following awards:

• Brian Williams Award: awarded to a rural GP
• Rural GP in Training of the Year Award: awarded to a GP registrar who is currently enrolled in the Fellowship in Advanced Rural General Practice (FARGP) through a Training Organisation (RTO/RVTS)
• Medical Student Bursary Award: awarded to a medical student who is a member of a rural health students’ club at an Australian university.

RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Awards

RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health provides the following awards:

• Standing Strong Together Award – celebrating partnerships between GPs and communities
• Growing Strong Award – to support the growth of a current GP in Training
• Medical student award – to support a current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander medical student

You can find out more about the awards here and nominate by visiting the RACGP website here.

Nominations will close on Monday 19 July 2021. Please contact us if you have any questions here.

New process for job advertising

NACCHO have introduced a new system for the advertising of job adverts via NACCHO’s communication platforms.

Click here to go to the NACCHO website where you can complete a form with job vacancy details – it will then be approved for posting to the NACCHO website and once approved it will go live.