• Maningrida flu outbreak worsens
• Galambila receives health and wellbeing funding
• Jail now rehab for First Nations women
• Tasmania to raise age of detention
• NT on alert for Japanese Encephalitis
• Launch of national standard of sepsis care
• New Health Professional Education resource
• New process for job advertising

Note: image in the feature tile is of Sharana Turner and her daughter Collette seeking treatment for influenza at Maningrida. Image source: ABC News.

Maningrida flu outbreak worsens

Maningrida. a remote NT Indigenous community is medically evacuating two residents a day as the Top End deals with a “tsunami” of flu cases during its worst outbreak in years. For the past week, one or two people have been flown out of Maningrida — 370 kms from Darwin on the north coast of Arnhem Land — each day due to a severe outbreak of influenza. “These are unprecedented numbers in volumes per day,” local health clinic manager Jessica Gatti said. “The flu season definitely has come a lot earlier and a lot harder than was anticipated, so we didn’t have the opportunity to do a mass vaccination,” she said.

She said management of the flu outbreak was much different to COVID-19. “With COVID-19, there had been so much pre-preparation going into it and we had so many policies and procedures and workflows around how we were going to internally manage an outbreak,” Ms Gatti said. “The flu outbreak is definitely worse in the sense that it’s a huge strain on the staffing and on the patients in that [we’re] trying to see them all in a timely manner.

AMSANT CEO John Paterson said Maningrida was not the only community struggling to contain outbreaks of influenza. He said the flu season normally peaked in August or September in the NT. “For some unknown reason, it’s arrived early and it’s caught our clinicians a little bit off guard,” Mr Paterson said.

To view the ABC News article Two patients a day evacuated from Maningrida as flu outbreak worsens in Northern Territory in full click here.

Galambila receives health and wellbeing funding

Galambila Aboriginal Health Service, which works in and around Coffs Harbour and Bellingen, is one organisation on the Mid North Coast receiving a share of $834,000 that has been granted to eleven regional charities and community groups by the Newcastle Permanent Charitable Foundation for projects improving health and social wellbeing for those most in need, and initiatives supporting disadvantaged and at-risk young people.

Tracy Singleton, CEO at Galambila Aboriginal Health Service said “It’s about improving health and closing the gap. We are looking at ten families every term, so 60 families over twelve months, which is a fair goal. Our footprint takes in Coffs Harbour and Bellingen shires across Gumbaynggirr country – though Gumbaynggirr country is much bigger than that. We have a population of over 5,000 Aboriginal people in our area and I think that if we can reach 60 families that’s a really good start.”

The program will be based around early childhood development. “We may start with something like hearing and bring in speakers and have playgroups where we bring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families together, that live on Gumbaynggirr country, and they’ll be able to talk through issues that they actually deal with that may not be issues the broader community deal with, so they’re not going to be isolated in what they bring to the table.”

To read the News Of The Area article Galambila Aboriginal Health Service Granted Funding For Health And Wellbeing Program in full click here.

Jail now rehab for First Nations women

A drug and rehabilitation facility to be established in remote Australia is finally offering women battling addiction the chance to seek treatment with their family and on country. Yetta Dhinnikkal Centre, a former prison, sits on more than 10,000 hectares in Brewarrina in north-west NSW and has been vacant since its closure in 2020. The property is now being handed back to the First Nations community for two vital purposes; to become a women’s rehab facility and to be used by the Ngemba Traditional Owners for cultural and agricultural purposes.

The Orana Haven Aboriginal Corporation has taken on the role of turning the former prison into a rehab exclusively for women and will allow them to remain with their children while receiving residential care. Acting CEO Tracy Gordon said there was a serious shortage of services for women struggling with addiction. “We’ve had numerous phone calls for a women’s rehab as well calls to see whether we take all of the family as well,” Ms Gordon said. “It’s just hard when you have to say no, we don’t have the services available. We have eight beds in this area for women to get help with drug or alcohol dependency,” Ms Gordon said. “We provide detox for females but from there, they have to go away.”

To view the ABC News article Jail turned rehab facility in remote NSW offers new hope for First Nations women battling addiction in full click here.

Tasmania to raise age of detention

The Tasmanian Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Roger Jaensch, has announced that Tasmania’s minimum age of detention will be raised from 10 to 14 years. This will be one key element in our plan to build a nation-leading, best practice approach to young people in conflict with the law. We know that detention does not support rehabilitation or reduce the likelihood of re-offending for younger children. Early exposure to a detention environment can also further traumatise young people, expose them to problem behaviours of older detainees and increase criminal networks.

You can view Minister Jaensch’s media release in full here.

Amnesty International Australia welcomed the announcement with their Indigenous Rights Advisor, Rodney Dillon, saying: “although we don’t have a lot of detail on the plans at this stage, Amnesty welcomes this significant step in a smarter approach to justice. Putting children in prisons causes irreparable harm, governments know this, but continue to allow children to be subject to this treatment. That the Tasmanian Government has recognised that children don’t belong in prison, and there are alternatives to dealing with crime, is a huge step forward.”

You can view Amnesty International Australia’s media release Tasmania’s commitment to raise the age of detention to 14 welcome, Time to raise the age of criminal responsibility here.

NT on alert for Japanese encephalitis

NT residents and visitors are being reminded to protect themselves from mosquito bites following an increase in the number of feral pigs that have tested positive for Japanese encephalitis (JE) in the Top End region. Since March 2022, 44 feral pigs infected with JE have been detected in the Victoria Daly, Litchfield, Marrakai-Douglas Daly and Cox-Daly region, as well as the Tiwi Islands.

Nina Kurucz, Director of the Medical Entomology Unit, NT Health, said JE is a serious disease spread by mosquitoes that can infect humans and animals, such as pigs, horses and some birds. “The highest risk period for being bitten by an infected mosquito is after sundown within five kilometres of wetlands where feral pigs and water birds potentially infected with JE are present,” Ms Kurucz said.

To view the NT Government NT Health media release NT on alert for Japanese encephalitis click here and for further information about the Japanese encephalitis virus you can access the Australian Government Department of Health Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) webpage here.

Launch of national standard of sepsis care

You are invited to the online launch of the first national Sepsis Clinical Care Standard, hosted by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that is difficult to recognise. Early action saves lives and reduces the risk of serious complications and death. The after-effects of sepsis extend beyond the acute crisis, posing challenges for coordinated follow-up in hospital and post-discharge.

Join the webcast from 12:00PM – 1:00PM AEST Thursday 20 June 2022 to hear the experts discuss timely recognition of sepsis, systems to support time-critical management, the ongoing effects of sepsis, and the importance of multidisciplinary, coordinated sepsis care.

This event, The event will be hosted by broadcaster and commentator Julie McCrossin AM, is relevant to all healthcare professionals who may need to recognise and respond to sepsis on the ward, in the emergency department or in pre-hospital and community settings.

To register for the webinar click here.

New Health Professional Education Resource

Health Professional Online Services (HPOS) HPOS is an internet based portal, providing a simple and secure way for health professionals and organisations to do business with government online. HPOS enables online self-service access to government programs, payments and services. You need a Provider Digital Access (PRODA) account to access HPOS. The Health Professional Education Resources Gateway contains an a vast and growing range of customised educational resources for health professionals.

A new education resource that examines HPOS in now available. This new simulation, HPOS Fundamentals, gives providers and their delegates,

• An insight on setting up HPOS,
• Overview of the key HPOS features, and
• Closer analysis of some specific HPOS features.

To view and learn more about the new simulation click here and for further information about the new HPOS education resource click here.

New process for job advertising

NACCHO have introduced a new system for the advertising of job adverts via the NACCHO website and you can find the sector job listings here.

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 and go live on the NACCHO website.