- Coalition of Peaks releases first Annual Report
- Great new campaign by VACCHO on early detection and cancer screening
- Marlamanu on-country diversionary program to tackle youth offending in Kimberley
- New promising project to tackle hearing loss issues in remote areas
- Creating safe spaces for conversations to prevent suicide
- Remote Primary Health Care Manuals
- Research Report MJA: Aboriginal people are less likely to survive the year after an ICU admission
- Sector Jobs
Coalition of Peaks releases first Annual Report
The Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (Coalition of Peaks) has released its first Annual Report, outlining progress in implementing the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (National Agreement).
Significant progress is being made against commitments in the Coalition of Peaks Implementation Plan, with the first Annual Report showing:
- progress on establishment of five policy partnerships and five place-based partnerships
- development of a number of sector-strengthening plans
- establishment of three Community Data Project sites, and progress on another one
- Agreement on the Data Development Plan
- growth in Coalition of Peaks membership
- case studies highlighting the successful implementation of the National Agreement across the country, leading to better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
However, the Annual Report also reveals that progress on Priority Reform Three – transforming mainstream organisations – remains slow, and that more needs to be done.
Scott Wilson, Acting Lead Convener of the Coalition of Peaks, is concerned. “Priority Reform Three is an opportunity to identify, call out, and then address, the institutionalised racism in our mainstream agencies and services”, said Mr Wilson.
Read the full Coalition of Peaks releases first Annual Report – media release.
Great new campaign by VACCHO on early detection and cancer screening
Cancer Council Victoria data also indicates that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria are nearly 2.5 times more likely to die from cancer than non-Aboriginal people.
The reduction in the number of people coming forward for cancer screening adds further cause for concern for VACCHO and has led to the development of the Community focused ‘Don’t Miss a Moment’ initiative.
The ‘Don’t Miss a Moment’ campaign is narrated by proud Wongutha-Yamatji man, staunch advocate, and award-winning performer, writer, and director Meyne Wyatt.
Marlamanu on-country diversionary program to tackle youth offending in Kimberley
Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan says the McGowan Government’s on-country diversion facility in the Kimberley has reached a major milestone, with Marlamanu Pty Ltd selected to progress delivery of the pilot program for at-risk youth.
A detailed service agreement will now be negotiated with Marlamanu Pty Ltd which will see an Aboriginal-led diversionary program established at the Myroodah cattle station, approximately 112 kilometres south-east of Derby in the West Kimberley. It follows completion of the program design – aimed at providing up to 16 places each year for young men between 14 and 17. Work is underway with agencies – including the Western Australia Police Force and the Department of Communities and Justice – to refine the pathways for referrals to the program, including from the courts.
For more details click here.
Read the full article released by the National Indigenous Times here.
New promising project to tackle hearing loss issues in remote areas
Newly-graduated Indigenous audiometrists are heading home to the bush, to help tackle a ‘shameful crisis’ of hearing loss. It’s estimated that in some remote communities, up to 90 per cent of children are affected.
Margaret Murray is an Aboriginal Health Worker living in the NSW-Victorian border town of Albury, who knows firsthand about the devastating impacts of hearing infections.
“As a child growing up near Mildura [in northern Victoria] I had a perforated ear,” the Maraura Barkindji woman says.
Read the full story released in SBS News here.
Creating safe spaces for conversations to prevent suicide
Introduction by Croakey: Dharawal and Dharug woman Shannay Holmes writes below about the importance of providing young people with culturally safe tools and language to navigate support and discussions around the topic of suicide.
“It’s time our young mob are supported and equipped with the appropriate tools to be able to support themselves and their peers,” Holmes writes. “I imagine if myself and my friends were taught how to talk about suicide and how to better support each other at school, we may not have had to struggle for as long as we did.”
Holmes works on the Heal Our Way campaign, which aims to provide practical resources to community members to equip them with the skills to have safe conversations around suicide.
Led by Cox Inall Ridgeway in partnership with Aboriginal communities in NSW, health leaders and people who have lived experience of suicide, Heal Our Way is a NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Campaign funded by the NSW Ministry of Health under Towards Zero Suicides (TZS) initiatives.
Read the full story released in Croakey Health Media here
Remote Primary Health Care Manuals
The Remote Primary Health Care Manuals are currently being reviewed and updated and will be launched in February 2023.
For more information click here.
Research Report MJA: Aboriginal people are less likely to survive the year after an ICU admission
Risk of death and 12-month mortality among critically ill patients admitted to the intensive care unit are higher for Indigenous than non-Indigenous people, according to research published today by the Medical Journal of Australia
“Rates of ill-health are higher and life expectancy lower for Indigenous peoples than for other people in many countries,” wrote the researchers, led by Dr. Paul Secombe, an intensivist at Alice Springs Hospital and Adjunct Lecturer at Monash University.
“After taking the lower median age of Indigenous ICU patients into account, their mortality outcomes are significantly poorer than for non-Indigenous patients.”
The authors concluded that their findings suggested that critical illness may contribute to earlier death among Indigenous Australians, and “consequently to lower life expectancy.”
Read the full story in the Medical Express here.
Sector Jobs
Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.
Advertising Jobs – to advertise a job vacancy click here to go to the NACCHO website Current job listings webpage. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a Post A Job form. You can complete this form with your job vacancy details – it will then be approved for posting and go live on the NACCHO website.
