• Elder Care Support: Community-led pathways to care
• Implementation of the National Lung Cancer Screening Program
• What happens in a sobering up centre?
• Voice to Parliament resources
• Community-controlled organisations team up for Homelessness Week
• AI in Eye Care
• Sector Jobs

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

We also share a curated selection of news stories that are of likely interest to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, broadly.

Elder Care Support: Community-led pathways to care

NACCHO’s Elder Care Support Program will work with the sector to ensure older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as well as their families, receive the necessary assistance in understanding, navigating, and accessing the aged care services they are entitled to. The program has been made possible by a three-year Commonwealth funded initiative and aims to increase workforce capability and capacity in community-controlled aged care support and empower the sector to coordinate place-based aged care needs.

The Elder Care Support program aims to:

• Support older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to understand and engage with the aged care system, to receive greater local support.
• Reduce barriers across the aged care journey to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people accessing aged care services, achieving, or exceeding parity with non-Indigenous people at a while of system program level.
• Increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people receiving care on Country.
• Increase clinical and non-clinical employment and career opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in aged care.
• Increase real time intelligence on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s needs and experience in aged care.

If you want to support Elders in community through connecting them with the care they need, talk to your local ACCHO to join the Elder Care Support team.

Find out more here.

Implementation of the National Lung Cancer Screening Program

Mark your calendars for the National Lung Cancer Screening Program webinar taking place on Thursday 31 August. Joint hosted by NACCHO Deputy CEO, Dr Dawn Casey, the Department of Health and Aged Care, and Cancer Australia, the purpose of the webinar is to provide an update on the planning of the National Lung Cancer Screening Program and discuss opportunities for stakeholder engagement.

In May, Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler announced Government investment of $263.8 million from 2023-24 to implement the program, for commencement by July 2025. The program aims to maximise prevention and early detection of lung cancer.

Webinar details:

Date: Thursday, 31 August 2023

Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm (AEST)

Access link: Click here.

Password: pAPfPEhg384.

*Please allow 5 minutes to join the webinar. Questions can be submitted during the session.

Find more information on the National Lung Cancer Screening Program here.

What happens in a sobering up centre?

When someone has a problem with alcohol, the first step is to reduce immediate harm because it can sometimes be a slow process to change longstanding drinking behaviours. Earlier this month the VIC government announced it’s establishing a permanent sobering up centre, following in the footsteps of WA, NT, SA, and QLD. It follows the state’s decriminalisation of public drunkenness, where instead of making an arrest or processing a fine, police will take people to a sobering up centre, if there is one in the area.

Public drunkenness laws disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and homeless people. Sobering up centres are a more effective and less harmful response to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people found intoxicated in public places than a police cell, as it understands alcohol and other drug problems as a health issue.

Sobering up centers are safe places where people who are too intoxicated to look after themselves can go to recover, with health professionals including Aboriginal health workers on site who can provide care if someone is sick or injured. They also provide food, showers, clean clothes, beds, access to help and support, including referrals to withdrawal and rehabilitation services and on-site counselling.

Read the full The Conversation article here.

Voice to Parliament resources

The referendum to constitutionally enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament is critically important for health and wellbeing.

Croakey Health Media has compiled a valuable list of articles and resources surrounding the Voice to Parliament:

The Uluru Statement from the Heart

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to the Australian people from First Nations Australians. It asks Australians to walk together to build a better future by establishing a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution, and the establishment of a Makarrata Commission for the purpose of treaty making and truth-telling.

Australian Electoral Commission’s Yes/No pamphlet – fact checked by RMIT/ABC

The Yes and No cases for the Voice to Parliament, drafted by parliamentarians from each side of the debate, have been published on the Australian Electoral Commission website and are being mailed out to Australian households. The ABC News article contains fact check’s analysis of claims made in the No campaign and the Yes campaign.

Australian Electoral Commission Factsheet on Disinformation

During the referendum you may come across information that isn’t supported by evidence, is missing context or is even deliberately misleading. To be well informed, be a critical thinker when consuming information and think about whether the information is accurate and truthful.

 

Pat Turner on “the most important vote of our collective lifetimes”

The referendum for a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament is the most important vote of our collective lifetimes, according to NACCHO CEO, Pat Turner.

“I am dismayed at how the debate on the Voice has been hijacked by all sorts of nonsense and misinformation.

“We have a simple truth here. Believe it or not, Aboriginal people know what’s best for Aboriginal people. All we want is a say in our own affairs, not a veto, not an advantage over others. We want a fair go. And a Voice will help us get it,” Ms Turner said.

You can read Ms Turner’s speech The significance of the Voice in Closing the Gap speech in full on NACCHO’s website here.

Read the full list of articles and resources on the Voice to Parliament on the Croakey Health Media website here.

Community-controlled organisations team up for Homelessness Week

Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service came together with other Aboriginal organisations to provide vital services and information for Homelessness Week (Monday 7 August to Sunday 13 August). Staff from the ACCHO provided holistic health checks and vaccinations, attendees were also able to access shower facilities, free haircuts and shaves, and were provided with resources from Kimberley Community Legal Services.

Housing support worker, Paula Clayton said the day allowed those attending to have fun and hopes people can be more understanding of the homeless community.

“It can happen to any of us, it doesn’t matter where you come from, especially in this social and economic situation with housing.

“[It’s] about celebrating our clients and letting them have a fun day to do some activities and see all the services provided,” she said.

Read the full The West Australian article Centacare Kimberley and Aboriginal Family Legal Services host Homelessness Week even in Broome here.

AI in Eye Care

The AI in Eye Care (with Indigenous Perspectives) Conference will take place on Yawuru Country (Broome, WA) on Tuesday 24 October and Wednesday 25 October. The aim of the conference is to bring together experts in the field to discuss the advances in AI and its impact on eye care and diagnosis. Intended for ophthalmologists, optometrists, and orthoptists, the event will also include a session open to non-eye care professionals including Aboriginal health workers.

A key focus of the conference will be a workshop, where visiting experts will discuss and examine the principles and ethical implications of AI diagnostic tools in eye care. Topics that will be covered include privacy and patient data, equality of access and results, transparency in the development and application of algorithms.

Read more 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.