- COVID-19 competition – win flights to Perth
- ACCHO named WA’s best GP service for 2023
- Glen for Women officially opens
- Why the Voice is crucial to health outcomes
- Children in detention leads to crime
- Reducing medication-related problems
- 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.
COVID-19 competition – win flights to Perth
Win return flights, accommodation, and tickets to the 2023 NACCHO Members’ Conference
6 ACCHOs and 15 creative people can win return flights, accommodation, and tickets for up to 3 ACCHO staff members to attend the NACCHO’s Members’ Conference in Perth this October.
Enter the COVID-19 Vaccination promotion competition by submitting a deadly video advertisement/promotion that represents the theme: Getting a COVID-19 vaccination is looking after yourself, for your chance to win! Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
- Relevance to the theme: Getting a COIVD-19 vaccination is looking after yourself
- Composition
- Creativity
- Originality
- Appropriateness for the target age group: Category 1 – kids 5–12 years (in the ACCHO community), Category 2 – teens and adults 13–49 years (in the ACCHO community), Category 3 – older adults 50+ (in the ACCHO community).
There are 3 amazing prizes up for grabs:
Category 1
- First Prize includes return flights, accommodation, and tickets to NACCHO’s 2023 Conference in Perth for 3 staff members
- Second Prize includes return flights, accommodation, and tickets to NACCHO’s 2023 Conference in Perth for 2 staff members
Category 2
- First Prize includes return flights, accommodation, and tickets to NACCHO’s 2023 Conference in Perth for 3 staff members
- Second Prize includes return flights, accommodation, and tickets to NACCHO’s 2023 Conference in Perth for 2 staff members
Category 3
- First Prize includes return flights, accommodation, and tickets to NACCHO’s 2023 Conference in Perth for 3 staff members
- Second Prize includes return flights, accommodation, and tickets to NACCHO’s 2023 Conference in Perth for 2 staff members
This is an opportunity for you to really show who and what your community is like, and the best ways to communicate with them.
We encourage teams to be creative with the theme. Is the best way to get your mob interested, through humour? Being strong and serious? Telling a story? Addressing negative stereotypes?
Be open to the possibilities of what ‘self-care’ looks like. Self-care could be 30-year-olds discussing the importance of getting the vaccination; or 70-year-olds spinning around the basketball courts because they’re fit and healthy and vaccinated; or tie your promotion to building community strength and vitality.
The more original and community-oriented, the better.
You can access a competition Entry Form here.
The Terms and Conditions for the competition are available here.
ACCHO named WA’s Best GP Service for 2023
Derbarl Yerrigan Health Services (DYHS) has been awarded WA’s best GP practice of 2023 by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). This ACCHO that operates on the lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people in metropolitan Perth was recognised for demonstrating excellence in patient care, safety and a commitment to the wellbeing of the community. DYHS GP Registrar, Dr Corey Dalton, was named the RACGP’s 2023 GP in Training. It is the second consecutive year that an Aboriginal doctor from the DYHS medical team has taken out the award. DYHS CEO, Tracey Brand, said the RACGP awards come as the ACCHO prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
“It is remarkable that a service started 50 years ago by a group of volunteers in an old city building with disused equipment from Royal Perth Hospital has become the largest ACCHO in WA,” she said. “These awards acknowledge our Board’s strong leadership and the dedicated DYHS team’s compassion and commitment to cultural safety and clinical excellence.”
Earlier this year DYHS chose to undergo accreditation through the Australian General Practice Accreditation (AGPAL) which involved the practice team reviewing all systems and processes, prior to an independent assessment conducted by a team of AGPAL surveyors. Ms Brand said “Our model delivers culturally responsive comprehensive primary health services with a focus on prevention, early intervention, comprehensive care and care coordination across the life course of our 22,000 patients.”
To view the Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service media release Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service named state’s best GP service for 2023 in full click here.
Glen for Women officially opens
On Wednesday last week, 30 August 2023, The Glen for Women was officially opened. The Glen for Women runs a 12-week residential rehab program based on the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Residential Rehabilitation Network (ADARRN) model of care. The program is designed to support participants with individualised case management plans; grief and trauma counselling; financial counselling; relationship and parenting programs; anger management and relapse prevention programs and 12 step fellowship meetings. Through the program, participants can also learn a range of practical skills to set them up for their return to community.
The Glen for Women has now been operational for 15 months and 84 women have passed through its doors. At the official opening the women who had fought so hard for The Glen for Women, Aunty Coral, Aunty Cheryl, Aunty Gail, Aunty Jan and Aunty Barbara were acknowledged.
You can find more information about The Glen for Women on The Glen website here.
Why the Voice is crucial to health outcomes
Respected Aboriginal leader Aunty Jill Gallagher – CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) – recently spoke on NITV Radio about the upcoming referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, how Aboriginal Elders drive the narratives as well as an upcoming VACCHO Elder’s Summit. Aunty Jill explained emphatically why a Yes vote is crucial.
You can listen to the NITV Radio interview Aunty Jill Gallagher on why a Yes vote is crucial, the impact on Aboriginal health outcomes and more in full here.
Children in detention increases crime
Some advocates say the best way to create an adult criminal is to lock up a child. The younger a child is slapped with a probation order or locked up for committing a crime, the more likely they are to return behind bars. So when QLD brought in laws allowing kids as young as 10 to be held in police watch houses, human rights groups were appalled.
“Suspending the Human Rights Act so children as young as 10 can be held in police watch houses and prisons designed for adults is utterly shameful,” she said. “It makes a mockery out of all the work that we’ve been doing to close the gap, which says to work in partnership with ACCOs before you make decisions like this.”
Reducing medication-related problems
Medicines are the most frequent health care intervention type; their safe use provides significant benefits, but inappropriate use can cause harm. Systemic primary care approaches can manage serious medication‐related problems in a timely manner.
A quality improvement activity developed to improve medicine safety is ACTMed (ACTivating primary care for MEDicine safety). ACTMed uses information technology and financial incentives to encourage pharmacists to work more closely with general practitioners to reduce the risk of harm, improve patients’ experience of care, streamline workflows, and increase the efficiency of medical care.
A stepped wedge cluster randomised trial is planned to be undertaken in 42 Queensland primary care practices to assess the effectiveness of the ACTMed intervention. The primary outcome will be the proportion of people at risk of serious medication‐related problems — patients with atrial fibrillation, heart failure, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, or asthma or congestive obstructive pulmonary disease — who experience such problems. The trail will also estimate the cost per averted serious medication‐related problem and the cost per averted potentially preventable medication‐related hospitalisation.
To read the Activating pharmacists to reduce the frequency of medication‐related problems (ACTMed): a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial article published in The Medical Journal of Australia today click here.
You can also read a previous article on ACTMed published in this newsletter 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.