NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #SuicidePrevention @cbpatsisp The #WISPC18 #NISPC18Conference Report, released this week, confirms the urgent need for action in colonised countries throughout the world

” Our people know the solutions, as is evidenced in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP), Solutions that work: What the evidence and our people tell us along with countless other reports and bodies of work. It’s time for all parties to work together, and with us on co-designing and implementing clinically proven culturally driven solutions.”

Professor Pat Dudgeon, a Psychologist and Project Director at the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP), has found intergenerational trauma and suicide to be a legacy of colonisation for Indigenous peoples the world over.

Download the Report

SuicidePreventionReport_JUNE-2019_FINAL_WEB

Read over 140 Aboriginal Health and SUicide Prevention articles published by NACCHO in past 7 years

Indigenous suicide is a global concern. The 2nd National and World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conferences in Perth WA in November 2018 brought together Indigenous peoples from Australia, Canada, United States of America and New Zealand. The Conference Report, released today, confirms the urgent need for action in colonised countries throughout the world.

Suicide rates have been increasing worldwide and are especially high amongst Indigenous peoples. The critical importance of identifying and implementing effective suicide prevention strategies in Indigenous communities was highlighted by a report Global Overview: Indigenous Suicide Rates. Prepared for and launched at the Conferences, the report details the consistently higher rates of suicide amongst Indigenous compared to non-Indigenous people and demonstrates the urgency for action.

Indigenous Elders, policy makers, researchers and community members representing LGBTIQ+SB, Youth, and Lived Experience participants came together at the Conferences to recognise the impacts of colonisation and subsequent trauma, disadvantage, marginalisation and lack of action by government on Indigenous issues and the need for healing and recovery processes for suicide prevention.

There’s an emerging story about people who have been colonised. Usually the takeover of their lands has been quite brutal. There were genocides and people removed from country and treated like second-class citizens, which in itself is traumatic.

Professor Dudgeon cited the work of psychologists Professor Michael Chandler and Professor Christopher Lalonde as pointing a way forward in preventing suicide in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

They looked at Canadian First Nation tribes and found that some communities had no suicide and others were right off the scale. So they examined the communities that had no or low suicide rates and coined the term ‘cultural continuity’. Translated into plain English, those communities had good self-determination. They had their own councils, they were in charge, they had agency over their community and their lives.

Another factor was that they were doing cultural reclamation activities. These could be simple things like building a long house or ensuring you had your cultural ceremonies happening. These issues corresponded directly to suicide rates.

Recovery from colonisation is our globally shared agenda and the conference enabled delegates to examine issues and identify solutions that are needed. Indigenous peoples from all countries who attended the conferences are calling upon their respective governments to recognise the Indigenous Rights declaration, the right to self-determination and the right for data sovereignty.

Recommendations included a dedicated National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy and Implementation Plan; allocation of greater levels of program funds for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; and an Elders call on all levels of government for an immediate response to unacceptable rates of suicides of young people, including a Royal Commission or ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ as the basis for healing and moving forward, programs and services to recognise and support the restoration and maintenance of culture and identity for the younger generation.

As Professor Dudgeon says:

Our people know the solutions, as is evidenced in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP), Solutions that work: What the evidence and our people tell us along with countless other reports and bodies of work. It’s time for all parties to work together, and with us on co-designing and implementing clinically proven culturally driven solutions.

The next Conference will continue the legacy of the Calls to Actions and Recommendations. Ms Carla Cochrane who is the Regional Research Coordinator for the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba is coordinating and planning the 3rd World Suicide Prevention Suicide Prevention Conference that will take place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in August 2020.

Ms Cochrane stated:

The 2018 Conference allowed us to share our stories and to connect on all levels, including spirit, with the promotion of life. Even though we come from different regions, our experiences and history are very similar and so is our strength, perseverance and resiliency to overcome the challenges we may face. Our connection to who we are as Indigenous people, our connection to the land and our languages set this foundation and this was highlighted at the conference.

Our focus at the 2020 Conference will be on continuing the legacy of the Calls to Actions and Recommendations from the 2018 Conference and on strengthening our communities through sharing our stories and our Knowledge.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON MINDFRAME INITIATIVE

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CBPATSISP

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CULTURE IS LIFE

Lifeline: 131 114
Kids Helpline: 1800 551 800
Mensline: 1300 78 99 78
Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467
Open Arms Veterans and Families Counselling 1800 011 046
Qlife – 1800 184 527
National Indigenous Critical Response Service 1800 805 801

NACCHO Our Members #Aboriginal Health Deadly Good News Stories : Features National @NACCHOChair #LowitjaConf2019 @Apunipima #715HealthChecks #QLD @QAIHC_QLD #CEOSleepout $ #NT @KenWyattMP visits @AMSANTaus #NSW Katungul #Vic MDAS #WA South West AMS #SA #ACT

Feature article this week 715 Health Checks

1.1 National : Relationships key to better Indigenous Health – and the 715 health check is paving the way says Dr Mark Wenitong

1.2 National : Donnella Mills Acting @NACCHOChair broadcast interview at Lowitja Conference in Darwin

1.3 National : Donnella Mills Acting @NACCHOChair and John Paterson CEO AMSANT presents at Lowitja the Coalition of ACCO Peaks on #ClosingtheGap

1.4 National : Michaela Coleborne the new NACCHO Director of Policy visits Lowitja Conference Darwin meeting many of our stakeholders like End RHD

2. NSW : Katungul ACCHO newly appointed CEO for the next 12 months, Joanne Grant talks about what motivates her to get out of bed every day

3. Vic MDAS Family and Community Services team supports our clients as they strive to achieve their own goals in life.

4. QLD :QAIHC CEO sleeps out to raise vital funds for homelessness : Please Donate HERE

5.1 WA : The South West Aboriginal Medical Service and City of Bunbury have been working together to deliver a $28 million multi-faceted facility for those living in the region.

5.2 WA : AHCWA Starts new course in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Primary Health Care Practice

6. SA : AHCSA_ Study redefines gender policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

7. NT : Minister Ken Wyatt visits AMSANT office in Darwin after opening Day 2 Lowitja Conference ( See Video )

8.ACT : Winnunga ACCHO adviser says reports expose ACT disinterest in Aboriginal care

How to submit in 2019 a NACCHO Affiliate or Members Good News Story ?

Email to Colin Cowell NACCHO Media

Mobile 0401 331 251

Wednesday by 4.30 pm for publication Thursday /Friday

Feature article this week

1.1 National : Relationships key to better Indigenous Health – and the 715 health check is paving the way says Dr Mark Wenitong

“You really have to engage with the local Aboriginal community, so they feel comfortable to come in and get their 715.

You need to understand cultural sensitivities to get a proper medical history – you can’t diagnose if you don’t know what’s really going on with a patient, so building that trust is really critical.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the worst health outcomes of any community in Australia.

We have a responsibility as health professionals to take care of this community, the same way that we take care of any part of our community.

Our people can actually take care of themselves if they have the education and the information in their hands.”

Dr Mark Wenitong Apunipima Health Service

Mark is one of a kind. Descending from the Kabi Kabi tribal group of South Queensland, Mark is one of the first Aboriginal men to graduate as a Doctor and is now a powerful advocate for improving Indigenous health outcomes.

Mark says he was inspired to become a Doctor by his mother who was one of the first Aboriginal Health Workers to be trained in Queensland. Her work with the Cape York community, in particular tackling the surge of sexually transmitted diseases in the region at the time, inspired a passion for better health within the family.

“Mum’s legacy was what really made me want to become a Doctor. I wanted to be able to help our mob to look after their own health, to provide a cultural lens. For me, that’s why it’s so important that Aboriginal Doctors are part of our service system, we can translate research, evidence and even program work into real practice” says Mark.

“With more Aboriginal Doctors, we can relate to our people, overcome barriers and build cultural resonance.”

After studying and graduating from the University of Newcastle in 1995, Mark is now based in Cairns at Apunipima Health Service, working with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities up north, both in the clinic and out in communities.

Mark says, the annual health check for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, item 715 under the Medicare Benefits Schedule, provides enormous opportunities for GPs to engage with Indigenous communities about their health needs.

View the video case study here: https://youtu.be/lUgJsjtiItA

“The importance of 715s can’t be overstated – it’s one of the most important innovations that Medicare, and the Government, has brought in. We needed to do it, because we needed to get an understanding of what people’s health profile was before they were unwell. Why wait until patients come to us with a chronic disease? Let’s start screening early,” says Mark.

With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 2.3 times more likely to suffer a chronic condition, the annual health check is designed to provide early detection and prevention. Mark says the assessment is critically important in improving Indigenous health outcomes.

“There’s a couple of aspects to a 715 that are really important. The first is the screening – there are lots of people that are asymptomatic – meaning they aren’t showing symptoms yet – that could have early disease like diabetes, hypertension. These patients may not come in until they get symptoms because people still think they have to be sick to come to a clinic. It’s an important way to engage the community, so they know they can come to a clinic whenever they need do,” says Mark.

“The other important aspect is that it’s a comprehensive assessment – a complete head to toe. By screening a broad array of physical, social and emotional factors, we get a really good picture of individual and community level health. Because we can identify problems early, we can also start early treatment.

“At a community level, we get really great data from undertaking the 715. We work with the local Elders groups to deliver 715 health check days out in the community, and screen people that otherwise wouldn’t come to the clinic. It gives us an idea of what the issues are at a really local level. We can then look at broader issues that affect the whole community, like immunisation, dementia, mental health and social wellbeing and can work to develop appropriate programs that tackle the specific issue a community might be experiencing.”

The annual health check is available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages, however nationally less than 30 per cent of patients are accessing the check.

Mark says it’s important to engage young patients with getting a 715 early as part of educating people about how to stay healthy.

“I see young people come in for their 715 and they’re very well. But I talk to them about health maintenance, talk to them about what they could end up like. Their uncle whose overweight, with no teeth and smoking outside. Our young people want to look deadly and fit, so we can help them with information and tips to stay in good health.

But with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Doctors representing less than 1% of the general practitioner workforce it’s important that all GPs understand the benefits of a 715 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.

Mark says the key to improving mainstream health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients is to encourage practices to engage with their local community to build cultural competency.

“If Aboriginal people walk into a service and don’t feel welcome, they won’t come back. Access is a big issue – creating a safe space for people to feel welcome is important,” says Mark.

“You really have to engage with the local Aboriginal community, so they feel comfortable to come in and get their715. You need to understand cultural sensitivities to get a proper medical history – you can’t diagnose if you don’t know what’s really going on with a patient, so building that trust is really critical.

“Most GPs can do this fairly well with most people, so it’s just a matter of then learning a little bit more about Aboriginal social and cultural issues to be able to relate to these patients in the right way. If you do, you’ll make a big difference.

“Some mainstream practices I’ve worked with have done really simple things, like putting Aboriginal health posters up in the waiting room or hiring and Aboriginal Health Worker or Aboriginal receptionist to help people feel welcome.”

Mark’s message to health professionals is simple – help your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients in the same way you help any others.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the worst health outcomes of any community in Australia. We have a responsibility as health professionals to take care of this community, the same way that we take care of any part of our community. Our people can actually take care of themselves if they have the education and the information in their hands.”

The 715 health check is available annually to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages. Further information, including resources for patients and health practitioners is available at www.health.gov.au/715-health-check.

1.2 National : Donnella Mills Acting @NACCHOChair broadcast interview at Lowitja Conference in Darwin

1.3 National : Donnella Mills Acting @NACCHOChair and John Paterson CEO AMSANT presents at Lowitja the Coalition of ACCO Peaks on #ClosingtheGap

Read Full Speech Here

1.4 National : Michaela Coleborne the new NACCHO Director of Policy visits Lowitja Conference Darwin meeting many of our stakeholders like End RHD

NACCHO are a founding member of the RHD alliance, leading work to #endRHD across Australia. ( with Vicki Wade on right )

Read NACCHO and RHD HERE

2. NSW : Katungul ACCHO newly appointed CEO for the next 12 months, Joanne Grant talks about what motivates her to get out of bed every day

What motivates you to get out of bed every day to come and work at Katungul and why?

I firstly want to pay my respects to the Walbunja peoples, some of whom are family, of the Yuin nation and I am really honoured to be able to work on their land and with the local Aboriginal Communities along the far South Coast of NSW.

There is well documented evidence of the disparity faced by Aboriginal people in Australia and still today our people are denied their basic human rights. The opportunity to make a change for our people is what really motivates me.

Working in the health sector has been an eye opening experience for me as we see daily the ‘real’ effects of colonisation and trans-generational trauma which presents in many forms, for our mob eg AOD, mental health, chronic disease, family breakdown to name a few. To be able to work in an organisation like Katungul, that can provide services and programs directly to our communities, and who value cultural safety is what I believe will make a genuine difference.

What are you most excited about taking on in the next 12 months?

I am keen for the challenge that lies ahead of me. Whilst I have been apart of the executive team at Katungul for nearly 4 years, to take the reins of our organisation requires a whole new level of responsibility, way of thinking and commitment.

I see my role as an opportunity to build on our successes and have us recognised for the work we do.

It disappoints me at times that our Government still does not fully value the significant role of an Aboriginal community controlled organisation, which is evident when you look at the funding options that bypass us. I believe, we hold the vital keys and answers to our solutions! I am keen to take the lead and have us write our own narrative of change as we move forward.

What can you personally bring to you role?

MMM.. talking myself up is not a big strength of mine, but when I look at my employment history I believe I can bring 30 plus years of demonstrated experience and commitment of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples with me.

When I left year 12 my first real job was with the Human Rights Commission, handling complaints of racial discrimination around Australia. This was a not just a job but a real life lesson for me, at that young age.It really opened my eyes up to the injustices my people faced. These stories have stayed with me throughout my employment journey and always motivates me to champion change.

What do you think will be your biggest challenges?

Working in any Aboriginal organisation is a hard ask, as we face many political challenges, at all levels including by our own communities. There seems to be a perception out there that we, Aboriginal organisations, receive a plethora of funding and are able to address ALL issues faced by our communities.

Unfortunately this is not the case, and we need to be clear and concise about what we can and cannot do and exceed where we are able to. Living in regional Australia itself is a challenge as local resources are limited which means we have to access support and services for our clients out of area. This is clearly evident in the AOD space with all clients requiring residential treatment/care having to leave the area and their family and Kinship networks which at times can be problematic.

What can the community expect to see from you in this role?

They can expect to see an Aboriginal woman lead with integrity, take on the challenges as they arise and to put the needs of the communities we serve at the centre of our business.

3. Vic MDAS Family and Community Services team supports our clients as they strive to achieve their own goals in life.

We have specialist teams focussing on the different needs within our community:

• Aged and Disability
• Children’s Placement Services
• Family Services
• Youth Services
• Homelessness and Housing Services

Our staff work from a “Best-Interest Case Practice Model” – that means we support clients to achieve their goals and maintain their connections to their community, their families and, importantly, their culture.

Website

4. QLD :QAIHC CEO sleeps out to raise vital funds for homelessness : Please Donate HERE

Last night ( Thursday 20 June ) the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) CEO, Neil Willmett, slept out on the cold, hard concrete of Brisbane’s Powerhouse as part of the Vinnies CEO Sleepout.

The annual event raises much needed funds and awareness to address homelessness in Australia. For the CEOs involved it is one night of discomfort, but for more than 116,427 Australians, including more than 22,000 Queenslanders, homelessness is a constant reality.

This is the third year that Mr Willmett has participated in the CEO Sleepout, a cause close to his heart.

“It is well known that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are over-represented in the homeless population. Across Australia, approximately 25% of people who access specialist homelessness services identified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander,” said Mr Willmett.

Mr Willmett is striving to raise a minimum of $5,000 to help the St Vincent de Paul Society Queensland (Vinnies) provide support to people in crisis.

“I am proud to participate in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout. As the CEO of QAIHC, I lead an organisation whose membership has a positive impact on the most vulnerable. Across the whole of Queensland, the homeless population is in the thousands. Homelessness can have profound and ongoing effects on people and their health and wellbeing,” Mr Willmett said.

Funds raised at the Vinnies CEO Sleepout enables Vinnies to provide vital services to people experiencing homelessness. Vinnies provides emergency accommodation, advocacy support, budgeting services, living skills programs, emergency relief, transitional housing and access to programs that help rebuild the lives of Australians living in poverty.

To donate, visit www.ceosleepout.org.au/fundraisers/neilwillmett/brisbane

5.1 WA : The South West Aboriginal Medical Service and City of Bunbury have been working together to deliver a $28 million multi-faceted facility for those living in the region.

Plans for the construction of an all-encompassing Indigenous health hub are progressing despite the project not yet receiving state or federal funding.

Last week council agreed to transfer city-owned land to SWAMS to develop the health campus.

Originally published HERE

Lot 4669 Forrest Avenue, Carey Park which is known as Jaycee Park will be transferred to SWAMS with the city agreeing to waive the development application fee of $34,196.

City of Bunbury Mayor Gary Brennan said the health hub would be a welcomed addition to the region.

“We are pleased to be able to provide the land to SWAMS for their health precinct and council would like to acknowledge all the hard work they do as well as the excellent service they provide to the community,” he said.

“By expanding their practice they will be able to do even more for their clients and make health care available and more accessible to those who need it.”

SWAMS chief executive Lesley Nelson thanked council for prioritising Indegenous health.

“This is about looking at a one-stop health hub to bring all of our programs and services under the one roof, in the one location,” she said.

“Strong local commitment and continuity are required to close the gap and that is why this purpose built, local facility is so important.”

During planning for the new purpose-built hub, SWAMS has partnered with University of Technology Sydney, to ensure an innovative, cutting edge design which will deliver positive outcomes for clients.

The build will include clinical and research facilities, administrative offices, dedicated maternal and child health facility and an outdoor Indigenous park in the one location.

There will also be a fenced-off children’s playground, landscaped gardens and new toilet facilities all open to the public.

Ms Nelson said they were still looking for funding partners and had sent the health hub plans out to a number of ministers.

“The total project will be around $28 million but if there is opportunities to undertake work at different stages that’s what we’ll do,” she said.

“We’re positive that it will happen, the first stage we’ll be looking at is building the health and wellbeing community centre and the landscaping and the park.

“That will get us started and showcase to the local community that something is happening on the site that is exciting.

“We know it’s important and this is part of trying to close the gap at a local level from the community – in terms of driving what they want to see here.”

SWAMS will now submit the development application to the City for assessment.

Once it has been approved, construction is expected to be completed within 12 months.

For more information visit www.swams.com.au.

5.2 WA : AHCWA Starts new course in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Primary Health Care Practice

NEW COURSE STARTING THURSDAY JULY 25th 2019

If you are interested in completing the Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Primary Health Care Practice” course or would like more information please email shirley.newell@ahcwa.org. or phone 92771631.

6. SA : AHCSA_ Study redefines gender policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Read and /Or Download Report HERE

7. NT : Minister Ken Wyatt Visits AMSANT office in Darwin after opening Day 2 Lowitja Conference

8.ACT : Winnunga ACCHO adviser says reports expose ACT disinterest in Aboriginal care

” THE release in late 2018 of two reports – “The Family Matters Report 2018”, which concerns Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care or in touch with the child protection system, and the Bureau of Statistics report “Prisoners in Australia 2018″– are a wake-up call for Canberra.”

Jon Stanhope is employed as an adviser at Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service

Originally Published HERE 30 Jan 2019

“The Family Matters Report 2018”, which measures the trends in over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home-care is as depressing as it is distressing. The report includes a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction report card on the implementation of best practice in child protection as represented by the Aboriginal Child Placement Principles and the four building blocks of the Family Matters Roadmap. “The Family Matters Report” is a collaborative effort of SNAICC-National Voice for our Children, the University of Melbourne and Griffith University. In other words, it is rigorous and credible.

In summary, the report reveals (and not for the first time) that the ACT is among the worst-performing jurisdictions in Australia and, on a number of specific and major measures, the worst-performing jurisdiction in Australia when it comes to the care of Aboriginal children in contact with the child-protection system.

In relation to the Aboriginal Child Placement Principles, recognised nationally as of fundamental importance to the management and care of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care, the ACT is identified as the only jurisdiction in Australia that has refused to include in its child-protection legislation any of the recognised elements of self-determination or a human-rights-based framework for participation in child protection decision making such as consulting Aboriginal community controlled organisations and involving them in decisions about the placement or care of Aboriginal children.

In light of the ACT government’s practice of excluding Aboriginal participation in child protection it is no surprise that the ACT has the highest rate of Aboriginal children in touch with the care and protection system in Australia and the third highest rate of removal of Aboriginal children from their families in Australia. An Aboriginal child in the ACT is 14 times more likely than a non-Aboriginal child to be in out-of-home care.

Stunningly, despite these quite shameful outcomes the ACT has the lowest level of funding in Australia for intensive family support and the second lowest level of family support generally.

Unsurprisingly, there are clear linkages between children who have been removed from their family by care and protection services and poverty, disadvantage and ultimately contact with the criminal justice system. The ABS report – “Prisoners in Australia 2018” – to the extent that it exposes and details the over-representation of Aboriginal men and women in prison in the ACT, confirms the depth of the failure of the ACT government and justice system to address either the causes of or appropriate response to Aboriginal offending.

The headline finding in the ABS report is that the ACT has the highest ratio of Aboriginal people in jail in Australia. An Aboriginal person in Canberra is 17.5 times more likely than a non-Aboriginal person to be sent to prison. The next highest is WA with a ratio of 16 followed by the NT where the ratio is 12. The ACT also stands out as the jurisdiction with the highest increase in relative imprisonment of Aboriginal people between 2008 and 2018, with an increase over the 10 years of a massive 100 per cent. In that same period WA and SA reduced the relative imprisonment rate by 9 per cent and 1 per cent respectively.

There is perhaps no single better illustration of the extent of inequality in Canberra than that the city with the highest median household income, the highest rates of home ownership and private health insurance, the fastest growing median house price and the highest mean income in the nation also has the highest rate of indigenous incarceration.

There is a range of other data reported by the ABS that is as equally shocking as the raw rate of indigenous incarceration. For instance the rate of prior imprisonment (or recidivism rate) of Aboriginal prisoners currently in the AMC is a mind blowing 90 per cent, the highest in Australia. Of the 109 Aboriginal detainees in the AMC on June 30 a staggering 99 of them were recidivists.

Equally alarming is the rate of increase in the ACT in the crude imprisonment rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Between 2017 and 2018 the rate in the ACT increased by 12 per cent to produce an increase over the six-year period from 2012 to 2018 of 89 per cent against a national average of 24 per cent. By way of comparison the growth in incarceration, over the same six years, in the NT, WA and SA was 8 per cent, 15 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

That the rate of increase in the incarceration of Aboriginal people in the ACT, over the last six years, is 65 per cent higher than the national average and that the rate of relative imprisonment has doubled in the last 10 years is deeply alarming and surely demands immediate and independent investigation and an urgent response. However, for that to occur there needs to be someone in government who actually cares.

My fear is that the ACT government has sensed that the Canberra community doesn’t really care that much about the level of indigenous disadvantage and poverty in Canberra and has accordingly decided that there is no need for it to either.

Jon Stanhope is employed as an adviser at Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service.

Aboriginal Health and Indigenous Advancement Strategy : NACCHO CEO Pat Turner expresses her frustration that another ANAO report raises concerns about @pmc_gov_au management of #Indigenous Affairs.

” It is very frustrating that we have another report from the Australian National Audit Office raising serious concerns about the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s management of Indigenous Affairs. ,

In this case, it is the arrangements for the evaluation of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy which is a multi-billion dollar investment.

The report tells us that five years after the introduction of the IAS, the Department is only in the early stages of implementing an evaluation framework and that there has been substantial delays.

That is not good enough for the Department in charge of the Australian public service. ”

Pat Turner NACCHO CEO

Listen to ABC World Today Interview Here

Download the full ANAO report HERE

Evaluating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs

“The prime minister’s department acknowledged the findings of the audit report but said the strategy was set up within a “very challenging timeframe”.

It was “moving into a more mature phase of implementation that draws on lessons learned”.

The report made four recommendations, which the department agreed to and was already working to meet.

It intended to revise the strategy’s guidelines, and improve the application process and its own record keeping.

The Indigenous Australians minister, Ken Wyatt, said he “acknowledges the frustration we all share that we are not seeing quick enough progress on closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians”.

“This is why Coag has agreed governments – both commonwealth and states and territories – and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will share ownership of and responsibility for a jointly agreed framework and targets and ongoing monitoring of the Closing the Gap agenda,” he said.

Labor, the Greens and peak Indigenous groups say the government must overhaul its Indigenous advancement strategy after a report found that the $5.1bn program was not being properly evaluated and did not align with the government’s policy objectives.

From The Guardian 19 June

Read full article

” After five years and $4.8 billion dollars, a new Auditor General’s report has revealed the Liberals and Nationals still can’t say whether their Indigenous Advancement Strategy is working.

Serious questions about the administration of the IAS have been swirling for years. Funding decisions have been notoriously opaque and the effectiveness of many programs is unclear.

This new report confirms the IAS has been operating for years without proper evaluation processes. Despite the former Minister being warned by his Department in 2016:

“At some point the current situation will become untenable as it is not sustainable to continue to fund activities that lack a good evidence base.”

[ANAO Report, p21, 2019]

Labor Response to ANAO report

Download Press Release Here

IAS Labor Response

Background

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C or the department) has been the lead agency for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs since 2013.

With the introduction of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) in 2014, 27 programs were consolidated into five broad programs under a single outcome, with $4.8 billion initially committed over four years from 2014–15.

The Australian National Audit Office’s (ANAO’s) performance audit of the IAS (Auditor-General Report No.35 2016–17) noted that the department did not have a formal evaluation strategy or evaluation funding for the IAS for its first two years.

In February 2017 the Minister for Indigenous Affairs announced funding of $40 million over four years from 2017–18 to strengthen IAS evaluation, which would be underpinned by a formal evidence and evaluation framework.

In February 2018 the department released an IAS evaluation framework document, describing high level principles for how evaluations of IAS programs should be conducted, and outlining future capacity-building activities and broad governance arrangements.

Part 1 Pat Turner comments continued

It follows a string of bad audits starting with the audit of the IAS which found that the Department had not consulted properly in designing the IAS and rolling out a disastrous application process that led to many community controlled organisations losing their funding without reason.

Now the Government has decided to set up a new executive agency, inside the Prime Minister’s portfolio but outside the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to manage Indigenous Affairs.

It is good that a separate agency for Indigenous Affairs is being re-established as it is one of the most important functions of the Commonwealth.

Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders never asked or supported Indigenous Affairs being moved into the department of the Prime Minister and it is clear it has not done a good job on the IAS.

Whether setting up a new agency gets better outcomes remains to be seen.

Many say that the very disruptive shift of Indigenous Affairs into the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has resulted in Indigenous Affairs being hollowed out and a loss of nearly all the capacity that it had before.

In the meantime, we are pleased that the Prime Minister has agreed to a new COAG Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap which includes agreement to an Indigenous led evaluation of Closing the Gap progress after 3 years.

We think that bringing the representatives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples into the equation, and allowing them to share decision making about Government policy, programs and evaluation will improve outcomes.

It will allow us to hold agencies much more to account for what they are doing and not doing.

But we also have to commit to building up the community controlled organisations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples to manage programs and deliver services to our people.

That is key to closing the gap and there are some signs that this is understood by the Coalition Government which committed in its election policy to increasing the Aborginal service sector.

That must go to giving them the responsibility for delivering programs and funding instead of public servants.

This audit shows that it is time for a radical shift away from governments and public servants to Aboriginal led delivery through their own community controlled organisations.

They will take responsibility for outcomes in a way that the public servants do not.

NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #LowitjaConf2019 Speech : Donnella Mills Acting Chair NACCHO and John Paterson CEO AMSANT presents the Coalition of ACCO Peaks on #ClosingtheGap

” We have started the task of determining an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander position on Closing the Gap. We know that Closing the Gap needs to be more than a set of targets. What we need is a radical shift to the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at all levels of policy design and implementation. We also want to place Aboriginal Community Controlled Services at the heart of delivering programs and services to our people.”

Donnella Mills, the Acting Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation or NACCHO, and John Paterson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory, an affiliate member of NACCHO, and convener of the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory.

I wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we are meeting on. I wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

I would also like to acknowledge and welcome other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who may be attending today’s session and acknowledge their lands and culture.

We thank the Lowitja Institute for bringing us together again to think, speak and be First Nations solutions for global change, and for giving us the opportunity to speak with you today about the work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations across Australia on Closing the Gap.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have historically been excluded from decision-making on the policies and programs that directly affect them and the communities in which they live. This is despite evidence which demonstrates that the only way to improve our people’s health and wellbeing is with their full participation in the design and delivery of services that impact on us. And despite our collective repeated calls over many years for full participation in decisions that impact on our lives.

Today we want to share with you how a group of Aboriginal community controlled organisations have exercised political agency by leading the way, challenging the possibilities and imagining a future of shared decision-making with governments on policies and programs that impact on our people and our communities.

You may remember that in 2007, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), comprising leaders of federal, state and territory, and local governments, committed to ‘closing the gap’ in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Australians. They also committed to a range of targets to end the disparity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians in areas like infant mortality, employment and education.

This was the first time that Australian Governments had come together in a unified way to address the disadvantage experienced by too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Commonwealth Government at the time also made an unprecedented investment in programs and services to ‘close the gap’.

Despite this unprecedented coming together of Australian Governments and investment, Aboriginal people were not formally involved in Closing the Gap, it was not agreed by us and it was a policy of governments and not for our people.

Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people felt that Closing the Gap presented the issue of our disadvantage as a technical problem built around non-Indigenous markers of poverty. This only served to hide the extent to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ disadvantage is a political problem requiring deep structural reforms.

Closing the Gap did not address the biggest gap that we face: the gulf between the political autonomy and economic resources of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous people.

The policies and programs that then followed whilst making some difference to our peoples lives did not achieve their potential. Now ten years later we have not made the progress against the closing the gap targets that had been hoped.

In 2017 the Commonwealth Government embarked on a ‘refresh’ of the Closing the Gap framework and undertook a series of consultations. The consultations were inadequate and superficial. There was no independent report prepared on their outcomes. The lack of transparency and accountability surrounding these consultations were very disappointing, but not surprising.

As the ‘refreshed’ Closing the Gap strategy was being prepared for sign off by the Australian Governments, our dismay and disappointment galvanised a small group of community controlled organisations to come together to write to the Prime Minister, Premiers and Chief Ministers asking that it not be agreed.

We weren’t going away, and there were three important messages that we wanted governments to hear. These were:

When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are included and have a real say in the design and delivery of services that impact on them, the outcomes are far better;
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need to be at the centre of Closing the Gap policy: the gap won’t close without our full involvement; and
the Council of Australian Governments cannot expect us to take responsibility and work constructively with them to improve outcomes if we are excluded from the decision making.

By staying strong and consistent in our messaging, our voices could not be ignored. In late October 2018, we were invited to meet with the Prime Minister, who acknowledged that the current targets were ‘government targets’ not ‘shared targets’, and that for Closing the Gap to be realised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had to be able to take formal responsibility for the outcomes through shared decision making.

On 12 December 2018, Australian Governments publicly committed to developing a genuine, formal partnership between the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and Indigenous Australians through their representatives on Closing the Gap and that through this partnership a new Closing the Gap policy would be agreed.

The initial fourteen organisations then became almost forty, as we brought together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peaks bodies across the country to form a formal Coalition to negotiate a new Closing the Gap framework with Australian Governments. We include both national and state and territory based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peaks representing a diverse range of services and matter that are important to us as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to Closing the Gap.

As a first step and through our initiative, we negotiated and agreed a formal Partnership Agreement between the Council of Australian Governments and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations which came into effect in March 2019.

The Partnership Agreement sets out that the Coalition of Peaks will have shared decision making on developing, implementing and monitoring and reviewing Closing the Gap for the next ten years. This is an historic achievement.

It is the first time that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peaks have come together in this way, to work collectively and as full partners with Australian Governments. Its is also the first time that there has been formal decision making with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and Australian Governments in this way.

A key commitment of the Partnership is the creation of the new Joint Council on Closing the Gap. The inaugural meeting of COAG’s Joint Council on Closing the Gap took place on 27 March. Noting that it is the first Council established by COAG that has representatives from outside government, it marked a historic step forward in the working relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and governments.

It is not an easy path that we are on and there are many challenges.

The Coalition of Peaks are strengthening their own governance and it is not always easy coming together by teleconferences to work through our positions as we navigate our distances and the pace in which we need to work to stay in front of Australian Governments with their many resources.

We are committed to being transparent and accountable to each other through consensus-based decision-making. This has helped us build trust in each other, in our agreed processes of negotiation and representation, and has made us a strong and effective force to be reckoned with.

Australian Governments are also slow to change, and despite agreeing to the formal partnership with us, we are yet to see them fully embrace what it means to have us at the table and respond to our propositions.

We have started the task of determining an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander position on Closing the Gap. We know that Closing the Gap needs to be more than a set of targets. What we need is a radical shift to the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at all levels of policy design and implementation. We also want to place Aboriginal Community Controlled Services at the heart of delivering programs and services to our people.

The Coalition of Peaks have also agreed with Australian Governments that they will lead consultations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and communities across Australia on a new Closing the Gap framework later this year. This will be the first time that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak bodies will lead consultations with our own peoples on government policy.

Whilst the road is challenging, by presenting governments with alternative model for engaging with us, an historic new model of power sharing has been forged.

In conclusion, I’d like to share with you some of the key learnings of partnering for success and keeping governments accountable to community health priorities.

Throughout our negotiations with government, we learned the importance of staying strong and presenting a unified voice. Our membership may be large and reflective of very diverse organisations. But this diversity is also a strength, as long as we are willing to stay true to our common.

NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #ElderCare : Broome hearing of the Royal Commission focuses on the ability of our mob to gain access to aged care services as well as the extent to which #remote areas are included in the availability of aged care services

“Could I then turn to what is a good news story, and if we could go back to Bidyadanga.

You will shortly hear from three people who deliver care in the Aboriginal community of Bidyadanga. The community council there comprises two members of each of the five language groups.

Primary medical care is delivered by the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service, KAMS, through the Bidyadanga Health Centre. On Wednesday, you will hear from the general practitioner who works for both KAMS and the Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service.

That’s BRAMS, and travels to Bidyadanga for two days on a weekly basis to work at the clinic. Another doctor is also present for a number of other days during the week.

The centre has four remote area nurses and one or two Aboriginal health workers. One senior Aboriginal health worker, who is a senior community member, has worked at the facility for well over 10 years.

There are also currently three Aboriginal liaison officers who work part-time for the clinic and two full-time administration staff.

KAMS also trains general practice registrars who come up on six to 12 month blocks to provide primary care and emergency services to the community.

Through the prism of Bidyadanga, the Commission can see firsthand the critical intersection between primary health and aged care in a location where there is no residential care in the traditional sense “

Extract from Monday 17 June transcript for The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety that is holding a public hearing in Broome this week .

See SMH media Coverage : Indigenous people believe aged care isn’t ‘culturally safe’, and ageing earlier

The Broome hearing of the Royal Commission focused on the ability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to gain access to aged care services as well as the extent to which remote areas are included in the availability of aged care services.

Specifically, the Broome hearing inquired into:

the unique needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people when it comes to aged care services
the perspective and experience of people who access aged care in remote areas including family members and carers
the nature and scope of aged care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in remote areas
the barriers to accessing aged care services for people living in remote areas
the challenges of maintaining an adequately skilled and culturally appropriate workforce in remote areas
good practice care models for people living in remote areas

The Royal Commission heard evidence from witnesses from the local community and surrounding areas as to their experiences of aged care services.

For more information about the hearing consult the Hearings page on the website and more information about the community forum can be found on the Engagement page.

Proceedings can be viewed or listened to using the webcast on the Royal Commission website. Hearing transcripts will also be available at the end of each hearing day.

Public submissions

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety invites interested members of the public and institutions to make submissions to the Royal Commission using an online form (the link to the form is below). The Royal Commission will continue to accept submissions until at least the end of September 2019. A date for the closing of submissions will be announced in the second half of 2019.

The online form is designed to capture information that is relevant to the work of the Royal Commission and consistent with the areas of inquiry set out in the Royal Commission’s Terms of Reference

Online Form HERE

Download the full transcript-17-june-2019

Read all the NACCHO Aboriginal Health and Elder Care articles

Location of Indigenous-focused aged care programs See ANAO 2017 Report

” Commissioners in this fourth substantive public hearing, the focus of the evidence will be on aged care in remote areas of Australia and the related issues of access and inclusion with specific attention being directed to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. People who identify as being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander comprise 16 per cent of the remote population and 46 per cent of the very remote population.”

Mr Bolster Counsel Assisting

For this reason, it is important that the Royal Commission when inquiring into aged care in remote areas, consider aged care services for people who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

It would, however, be a mistake to conflate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and life with regional and remote locations, remembering that over 60 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in major cities or inner regional areas.

With that in mind, and while it will receive some attention in this hearing, the particular needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in urban areas will be explored further in later hearings, including the Perth hearing next week.

What is remote aged care?

We commence the answer to the question by identifying examples that frame the experience of delivering aged care in some of the most remote locations imaginable.

At Docker River in the Northern Territory, close to its south-western corner, is a facility known as Tjilpi Pampaku Ngura Flexible Aged Care Service. It services a population of 394 with a median age of 31 of whom 74 per cent are Aboriginal.

It is funded to provide care for 19 residential care places and 22 home care packages. Tjilpi Pampaku Ngura is in the traditional lands of the Anangu people and the predominant language is Pitjantjatjara, English being spoken at home in only 14 per cent of households.

Alice Springs is nearly 700 kilometres to the east on principally dirt roads and involves an eight to nine hour drive or a chartered plane. There are no regular airline services. Diesel is the only fuel available. The median annual income is $15,000, just over a quarter of what it is in Darwin. We will be talking about Docker River shortly.

On the other side of the border in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara or APY Lands in remote South Australia, 217 elders receive aged care services through Aboriginal Community Services SA from whom you will hear evidence, predominantly via the Commonwealth Home Support Programme as well as a limited number of home care packages.

Balgo, or Wirrimanu in the eastern Kimberley is a 250 kilometre trip south of Halls Creek and over 10 hours from Kununurra. The drive is mainly on dirt roads that are often impassable in the wet season.

A population of between 500 and 600 is serviced by a health centre run by the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service with visits by doctors of the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service. Aged care services, predominantly home care packages and CHSP, are delivered by Kimberley Aged and Community Services, an arm of the WA Country Health Service known as WACHS.

That’s in partnership with the local Aboriginal Corporation. At Balgo, a loaf of bread and long-life milk cost around three times the price that you will pay for them in Kununurra.

Balgo is one of a number of remote communities in the Kimberley where care is delivered through a place-based partnership model where there is a relationship with the local Aboriginal community corporation. KACS, that is Kimberley Aged and Community Services, also delivers home care packages directly at a number of other remote locations as well as undertaking client case management reviews, referrals to specialists, recruiting and training remote workers as well as quality monitoring at smaller locations.

On Thursday Island there is a 40 bed residential aged care facility known as the Star of the Sea where 80 per cent of the staff identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. Star of the Sea is the only residential aged care facility in the Torres Strait. It contains a central meeting room known as the Ocean Room that overlooks the Torres Strait, thereby providing resident with a connection to the ocean to which that unique culture is inextricably attached. As the High Court observed in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), “the Meriam people of the Torres Strait retain a strong sense of affiliation with their forebears and with the society and culture of earlier times. They have a strong sense of identity with their islands.” In the case of the Torres Strait, the geography is such that many of the islands are small and spread over a vast area as the map, which should be on display, identifies.

Finally, 200 kilometres south of Broome is Bidyadanga, one of the largest remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia with a population of 700 to 1000 people. It is home to five language groups, Karajarri, Juwalinny, Mangala, Nyungamarta and Yulpartja. Bidyadanga has a dedicated aged care service with a CHSP-funded HACC centre, HACC being a reference to the former Western Australian Home and Community Care Program. People in Bidyadanga have high care needs; there are no residential care options available other than a move far away from country to Broome. Consistent with what this Royal Commission has been told in earlier hearings, people in Bidyadanga have a strong preference for being able to stay in their own home. Just as importantly, they want to stay on country for as long as possible. Bidyadanga has a health centre, general store, and outposts of government agencies including Australia Post and Centrelink. The local fishing is good. I’m told the blue nose thread fin salmon cooked on coals is a good reason to stay there.

These are just a few practical examples of the remote places where aged care is delivered; each will be the subject of evidence at this hearing.

Madeleine Jadai brought photos to emphasize the importance of family to Indigenous people requiring aged care. CREDIT:ROYAL COMMISSION ON AGED CARE QUALITY AND SAFETY

I turn now to the question of what “remote” means.

For the purpose of delivering services in remote Australia, the Commonwealth relies on at least two methods of classifying regions as remote or very remote. The first of these, known as the Modified Monash Model is used for service delivery purposes by the Department of Health. It has seven levels ranging from level 1 which represents major cities through to level 6 and 7 for remote and very remote.

It’s best explained by a chart that is – it should be coming up on the screen now. The yellow portions are the very remote portions. They’re MMM7. And the MMM6 portions are the lilac colour slightly closer to the coast on the east coast. And in the case of Tasmania, there’s another graph which we attach and the Commission will see that both in the case of King Island and the Flinders Island group, they are very remote. There is a comparable ABS remoteness classification which is largely to the same effect and the relevant charts for that purpose will be in the evidence. Any consideration though of remote aged care needs must extend beyond the States and the internal Territories and address the external Territories as well.

Of the seven external Territories only three support a permanent population, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island. All three are classified as very remote under the Modified Monash Model and the Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities has responsibility for health care on both Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Island. That is delivered through a standalone Indian Ocean Territories Health Service. A recent March 2019 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, prepared for the Commonwealth, noted that although each has a strong and easily accessible primary health care service, which is known as the Indian Ocean Territories Health Service, there is no aged care – residential aged care in either Territory. Complex procedures are delivered in Western Australia.

The PwC report is currently with government and community consultations were commenced on Christmas Island in May and there will be future consultations on Cocos (Keeling) Island in June. This is a significant issue and one that will be explored in further hearings. The Norfolk Island situation is slightly different. Norfolk is categorised as RA5 under the ABS remoteness classification. It is not classified under the Modified Monash Model. It is located within the South-East Sydney Aged Care Planning Region and the Central and Eastern Sydney Public Health Network. Norfolk Island Health and Residential Aged Care Services is an integrated multipurpose service, and I will be talking more about multipurpose services later; it provides 14 high-care residential aged care places on the island.

Can we turn now to the Kimberley. The Kimberley Aged Care Planning Region is one of 73 planning regions across Australia and you’ve already heard evidence about the significance of such regions for aged care planning and funding purposes. The Kimberley region provides a useful snapshot of the features of aged care in remote and very remote Australia.

Although it must be acknowledged that there are many differences between regions across the country, including cultural and geographic differences. According to ABS census data from 2016 published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on the generation aged care website, just over 31 and a half per cent of the region’s population aged 50 or over identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. That’s to be contrasted with the national or state average of about one and a half per cent. 23 – 21.3 per cent of the population over 65 was born overseas as opposed to around 36 per cent nationally. But there is a higher proportion of people over 65 for whom English is not their preferred language.

In terms of service delivery there are a number of features that stand out. Although there are more residential aged care places per 1000 people than the state and national average, the vast majority of residential care places are provided by not for profit providers. This equates to around 83 places per 1000 people over 70. At this hearing you will hear evidence from and about providers that operate in Western Australia, particularly in the Kimberley, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Far North Queensland, servicing the Torres Strait. Whilst a number of places are provided by government providers, roughly six per 1000, there are no residential aged care places provided by for profit organisations in the Kimberley, whereas on average there are 30 places per 1000 people aged 70 or over nationally and around 22 per 1000 in Western Australia provided by for profits.

In the Kimberley, unlike the position nationally, slightly more males use permanent residential aged care than females. Similarly, unlike the position nationally and in the rest of the State, the majority of residents in the Kimberley are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. There is also a markedly higher proportion of people whose preferred language is not English, even though such residents were born in Australia or another English speaking country. Perhaps the most significant comparison between the Kimberley and urban Australia is to be seen in the age profiles of those that use aged care and there’s a graph that should be coming up on the screen now.

Focusing for the moment on those that use residential aged care, it can be seen that as of 30 June 2017, the demand by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males presents at a much earlier age than is the case in the typical urban cohort. The graphs that follow provide a comparison between the demand for residential care and home care in the Kimberley, Alice Springs and inner west Sydney regions. It gives much the same impression establishing that the largest cohort of men in the city is likely to be between 80 and 90 years old, whereas in the Alice Springs and the Kimberley the corresponding cohort is much young, spanning the years 65 to 79. The position is roughly comparable in the case of women, although the gap would seem to be slightly smaller given that Aboriginal women tend to enter aged care later than males.

I turn now to the question of culturally safe care.

There are also particular important considerations that arise in relation to the provision of aged care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people which will be explored at this hearing. It’s important to note the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and language. There are over 500 indigenous nations and over 250 different language groups across Australia. An approach that works for one particular cultural group may not be appropriate in another setting. At the forefront of these challenges, whether care is delivered in the city, rural or remote Australia, it needs to be culturally safe and culturally appropriate. Whilst this encompasses many things and will hold different meanings for different cultural groups, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people we will hear that at its centre is the acknowledgement of the identity of the person and their connection to community and country, their community and their country.

One witness will tell you that this may mean different things in different parts of the country, and in that sense it has aspects that are location based and dependent on the particular cultural practices of the region. It also has an individual element that depends upon the personal history of the person and in this respect, the perspective of people in the Stolen Generation comes to mind. The following are common themes that the evidence is likely to demonstrate.

The first, as I’ve said, is connection to country.

We will hear about the importance of having connection with country and staying on country as people age. For people who are no longer living in their country, having the opportunity to return to country is important.

You will hear how in Derby and in other places, the Juniper facilities, like other facilities across the country, arrange to transfer residents to country with support staff. You will hear of the challenges for older people who may be forced with having to go off country to access health and aged care services, in particular when it comes to residential care.

Secondly, there is the connection to family and community.

In this respect, we will explore the unique role of the elder in traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and how the important cultural responsibilities associated with that role need to be understood when attempts are made to provide care. We expect that you will hear evidence about a collectivist culture where there is a sharing of resources and the challenges in delivering home care to an older person in that setting.

Thirdly, there is language.

Language plays an important role for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in their connection to culture, kinship, land and family. And languages are the foundation upon which the capacity to learn, interact and to shape identity is built. Fourthly, there are important cultural requirements in the lead-up to and immediately following the passing of an Aboriginal person. You will hear evidence about how for some cultures a smoking ceremony is conducted in the deceased’s living space for religious and cultural purposes, together with ceremonies after death that may involve keeping the body in place for a period of time before burial in country.

In some cultures it may be appropriate for attendance by kin or community members at ceremonies associated with an impending death. It would appear that there may be a need to provide notice that a person is dying so that arrangements can be made for necessary attendances for sorry time or sorry business. Singing ceremonies before and after death need to be understood and respected. You will hear of one service that has sought to have a separate palliative care residence where there is space for family and community to spend time with the older person. At the same time, it needs to be borne in mind that some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have cultural reservations about discussing these matters. We seek to approach this matter respectfully and in good faith so that these matters can ensure better delivery of culturally safe care.

Food, of course, plays an important role in culture.

You will hear evidence that delivery of cultural food at least once a week in a residential facility will enhance the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders. Awareness of these relationships and a commitment to embrace them is critical to delivering culturally safe care and obtaining the trust of the resident and their community. We will also explore what is culturally safe palliative care, an issue that can be complicated by some traditional approaches to death.

On another level, the everyday delivery of care may involve attention to significant male and female roles and kinship relationships. Gender, clan and kinship can impact on whether it is appropriate for a particular person to provide care to another person. This can present challenges in terms of workforce and recruitment. Overall, the delivery of cultural safe care is based on trust on the part of the care recipient and this is an issue that will be considered by a number of the witnesses. One witness is likely to tell you that it is best where care is provided as close as possible to home, by people who are sensitive to the history and culture and needs of that resident, and you will hear from some of those witnesses today.

Another witness will talk about place-based models of care. You will also hear about the time that it takes to develop trusted relationships that are required to deliver care. Ruth Crawford, a nurse for 45 years, is the manager of the Kimberley Aged and Community Services and she will give evidence tomorrow about the partnership model of care that operates in places such as Balgo, Bidyadanga and a number of other remote communities within the Kimberley. You will hear that where care is not culturally safe, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are not likely to access services. You will also hear about the challenges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face in navigating My Aged Care.

The barriers that prevent access to the aged care system or getting the types of level of assistance they need come in many forms. The aged care assessment process requires a person to talk about their intimate and personal health, their domestic situation; all of this with a complete stranger. That stranger may be of the opposite sex and may not have had any cultural awareness training. You will hear that this framework leads to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people avoiding the aged care system, withdrawing from the ACAT discussion.

You will also hear how My Aged Care assumes a level of literacy and good access to postal services as well as e-literacy and connection that is not a reality in some parts of Australia. You will hear about the services that work to get around these barriers by wrapping around the older Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. They use their pre-existing relationship of trust to get the person to an ACAT assessment and support them through it. Much of this work is done without aged care funding and depends upon the goodwill and flexibility of committed services and staff and members of the local community. Language is also a barrier. When an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander interpreter is required, in the limited circumstances that there is a professional interpreting service available, the person can be required to pay for this out of their home care package.

Can I turn then to funding structures.

Commissioners, you have already heard evidence about how aged care is predominantly delivered through residential aged care, home care packages, as well as the Commonwealth Home Support Program. Some providers of residential and home care are also eligible for viability supplements in recognition of the additional costs of delivering care in remote settings or to people defined as special needs groups under the Aged Care Act, and that includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. While each of these programs operate in the context of remote and very remote Australia, there are additional programs that is will be under examination in this hearing which we would like to outline briefly.

The first and largest of those is the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program known as NATSIFACP or sometimes NATSIFlex which I will use because I think it’s easier. The stated objects of that program are to deliver a range of services to meet the changing aged care needs of the community, to provide aged care services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people close to home and community, to improve access to aged care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people, to improve the quality of culturally appropriate aged care services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to develop financially viable cost effective and coordinated services outside of the existing mainstream programs.

NATSIFlex operates, as I said, outside of the Aged Care Act and providers are block funded based on an agreed allocation of aged care places and the types of places. Unlike ACFI funding, there are two levels of residential care and two levels of home care, one high and one low. The intention is to provide stability of funding and flexibility. Nationally, the program funds 453 residential aged care beds, 11 respite places and 396 home care services in 30 organisations delivered through 35 services. Currently the Commonwealth is prioritising the conversion to NATSIFlex status for which there are only limited opportunities, and this is to a very small number of services, those that are likely to struggle under mainstream funding arrangements.

Debate surrounds whether this is the right criteria or whether there should be any restriction on conversion of mainstream services to NATSIFlex status. You will hear from the provider Juniper about how their 40 bed facility at Kununurra, built with a Commonwealth grant, is precluded from NATSIFlex funding by reason of these criteria. There may, however, be reasons to prefer services that operate in the mainstream wherever possible and that they only – the conversion to NATSIFlex only be allowed if it’s necessary to ensure ongoing viability.

To put the matter in perspective, the Commonwealth projects that by 2029 the use of ACFI-funded residential care in remote and very remote Australia will have increased by nearly 700 places or 63 per cent on current levels. Similarly the use of NATSIFlex-funded places will have increased by 227 or 61 per cent. Resident pathways into NATSIFlex care are broader and more flexible than the pathways under the Aged Care Act. ACAT assessment is not required and referral can be from a range of sources, including My Aged Care, CHSP assessors, GPs, social workers, etcetera. Residential care can be either permanent or short term and you will hear evidence that in some locations residents take up the care, particularly during the wet season when travel is difficult.

At least one witness is likely to criticise the program on the basis that the flexibility of the system means that admission to residential care is often premature, expressing the view that care at home, funded by other programs, including the NDIS, would suffice and that such a result may be driven by providers looking to increase occupancy rates so as to increase their funding.

Witnesses are also likely to consider whether the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people receiving aged care at an earlier age reflects gaps, whether current or historical, in primary health care and disability services, rather than premature ageing. There is a real issue as to whether NATSIFlex funding enables service providers to respond to the pressures associated with the remote delivery of care, particularly having regard to the challenges of providing culturally appropriate care. Grants only operate for periods of between two or three years and seem geared to provide the revenue associated with providing care to residents, not providing the basis for any capital development or improvement. There are other avenues through which support, including for capital grants, is provided by the government, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Service Development Assistance Panel, the SDAP.

This program provides funding to enable providers to obtain specialist advice and assistance in a range of areas, including service delivery, sector support and financial and project management.

Australian Regional and Remote Community Services, or ARRCS as we will refer to it, is the largest NATSIFlex provider in the country, operating the facility at Docker River, previously referred to, and facilities at Mutitjulu, Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Its related organisation, Pinangba, which operates in Queensland, is the operator of the Star of the Sea facility on Thursday Island. ARRCS is one of the two providers through whom UnitingCare Queensland delivers aged care services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. You will hear from the group general manager of that organisation responsible for the regional and remote community services, along with the CEO of UnitingCare Queensland, the parent company.

A second relevant program is the funding of Multi-Purpose Services or MPS which are partnerships between the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments to deliver integrated health and aged care services in very small communities, particularly in regions where it is not viable to operate a standalone hospital or a standalone aged care service. Mention also needs to be made of the Aged Care Regional, Rural and Remote Infrastructure Grants funding round which provide support to regional, rural and remote aged care service providers to undertake infrastructure works.

Could I then turn to the issue of home care packages in this region.

Waiting times for the delivery of remote home care packages are a matter of concern and largely mirror the position in the rest of Australia. Evidence from the Commonwealth is to the effect that in remote and very remote Australia there were 1480 approvals for home care packages in calendar year 2018. Of those living in remote or very remote regions who were assigned their first package, regardless of level, in that period, only 38.8 per cent, that is 608 people, received that assignment within nine months. For most people, the time between approval and assignment exceeds nine months. There were significant numbers who had not been assigned a provider after 18 months: 218.

At the two year and beyond period, the figure was 68 and at the three year period, there were 28 people. Evidence from the Commonwealth is that in the case of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people they represent 3.1 per cent of participants, although it is not at all clear the extent to which they are required to wait for packages.

There is also a viability supplement paid to all of the providers referred to above, including NATSIFlex and MPS to recognise the higher costs of providing care due to the location, size and client mix of a service. Despite all of this, the Aged Care Financing Authority warned in September of last year that there were a number of facilities in regional and remote areas that were experiencing significant financial difficulties and were likely to be forced to merge with or sell to a larger provider.

Could I then turn to what is a good news story, and if we could go back to Bidyadanga.

You will shortly hear from three people who deliver care in the Aboriginal community of Bidyadanga. The community council there comprises two members of each of the five language groups. Primary medical care is delivered by the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service, KAMS, through the Bidyadanga Health Centre. On Wednesday, you will hear from the general practitioner who works for both KAMS and the Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service.

That’s BRAMS, and travels to Bidyadanga for two days on a weekly basis to work at the clinic. Another doctor is also present for a number of other days during the week.

There are also currently three Aboriginal liaison officers who work part-time for the clinic and two full-time administration staff. KAMS also trains general practice registrars who come up on six to 12 month blocks to provide primary care and emergency services to the community. Through the prism of Bidyadanga, the Commission can see firsthand the critical intersection between primary health and aged care in a location where there is no residential care in the traditional sense.

You will hear from Dr Martin Laverty, the CEO of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, on the importance of that sort of primary health care as a means of avoiding admissions to hospital, often far away, and unwanted entry into residential aged care, also far away from that country.

Tomorrow, you will hear from representatives of two providers from the eastern part of the Kimberley. The first provider is Uniting Church who provide aged care services under the name of Juniper. It operates the Juniper Ngamang Bawoona and Juniper Numbala Nunga facilities in Derby. Juniper, from whom you heard evidence at the first Adelaide hearing, cross-subsidises its remote residential facilities with revenue from its more traditional aged care operations in Perth. The second provider, Southern Cross Care, operates the Germanus Kent House here in Broome, and the associated Bran Nue Dae Day Centre.

We also expect that you will hear evidence from an Aboriginal enrolled nurse who has worked at Germanus Kent House, and that should occur within the next hour or so.

See full transcript to continue transcript-17-june-2019

NACCHO Aboriginal Health Research News : Ngarruwan Ngadju: First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre gives the team a real identity says @kathleenclapham and @DrMLongbottom

” It will give us an identity. Rather than being the team that works in the corner of AHSRI, we are the Ngarruwan Ngadju: First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre.”

Identity has finally been won and Indigenous health Professor Kathleen Clapham couldn’t be happier.

“Ngarruwan is the sea, the salt water over a long distance, it connects our communities down the coast, it connects us with our international partners.

Ngadju is fresh water, Kath [Prof Clapham] is a fresh-water woman. The name represents all of our team, it’s also about the sustenance that water provides us; water is life.

To start to explore the conundrum of the inequalities which exist, let’s look at the root causes of those.

Let’s not try to blame individuals, let’s look honestly at the history of Australia and our region, let’s look at the structures that sustain the inequalities.”

Researcher Dr Marlene Longbottom said the name Ngarruwan Ngadju had special meaning for all team members

NEW HOME: Dr Marlene Longbottom and Professor Kathleen Clapham at the Ngarruwan Ngadju: First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre launch at the UOW Innovation Campus. Picture: Robert Peet

Press Release : Identity has finally been won and Indigenous health Professor Kathleen Clapham couldn’t be happier.

So too are her fellow University of Wollongong researchers involved in the Ngarruwan Ngadju: First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre.

On Friday the team of eight finally had a place to call home.

Previously they had been working at the Australian Health Services Research Institute (AH SRI) at the Innovation Campus.

The centre’s new digs are in the same building but importantly the researchers have their own dedicated space.

The team’s research focuses on the health and wellbeing of South Coast Indigenous communities.

They aim to identify what’s working well, and bring evidence to light in the broader community.

Researcher Layne Brown has been evaluating a program run by the Coomaditchie United Aboriginal Corporation at Kemblawarra.

The program works with kids at risk of being suspended or leaving education. It supports cultural teaching and provides academic, living and social skills. It connects young people with their family and their community.

The team also addresses issues of inequality, such as Indigenous life expectancy and suicide rates.

Launch of Ngarruwan Ngadju: First Peoples Health and Research Centre and the launch of Active & Safe: Preventing Unintentional Injury to Aboriginal Children and Young People guidelines.

Working in partnership with Aboriginal communities is the only way to tackle the high rates of injury for Aboriginal children @georgeinstitute @theAIPN report ‘Active and Safe‘ finds https://bit.ly/2MIaXHZ

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are still dying from unintentional injuries at the same rate as 15 years ago, a new report has highlighted. Yet death rates for non-Aboriginal children have halved in the same period.

The report – Active and Safe – by The George Institute, The Australian Health Services Research Institute, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network, Kidsafe NSW and the Australasian Injury Prevention Network calls for injury prevention in Aboriginal communities to be made a priority.

The report provides a set of NSW Health funded guidelines developed from research undertaken in 2016.

Australian and NSW data show rates of injury to Aboriginal children to be consistently higher than for non-Aboriginal children, with the mortality rates for Australian children from injury-related causes almost five times higher and hospitalisation rates two times higher than the rate for non-Aboriginal children.

The guidelines are intended to assist a number of stakeholder groups working in Aboriginal child injury prevention including: Aboriginal community controlled organisations, non-government organisations; researchers and government policy makers.

“We need the government to work alongside and be guided by Aboriginal communities to build on community strengths and promote the resilience of Aboriginal children, families and communities in injury prevention,”

said Keziah Bennett-Brook, Manager of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at The George Institute.

“The new guidelines have a strong focus on practical implementation and will be a valuable tool for policy makers, researchers and practitioners,” she said.

The guidelines were also developed and designed to complement the Australia edition of the Child Safety Good Practice Guide which provides practitioners, decision-makers, and legislators with an evidence-focused resource on which they can base their work, funding and recommendations.

The Active and Safe guidelines are being released today to coincide with the launch of the Ngarruwan Ngadju: First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre located within the Australian Health Services Research Institute at the University of Wollongong and led by Professor Kathleen Clapham.

Download the full report ‘Active & Safe: Preventing unintentional injury to Aboriginal children and young people in NSW’(PDF 2.4 MB)

Aboriginal Health Researchers Challenge : Just in time for #LowitjaConf19 “The Blackfulla test” 11 reasons that Indigenous health research grant/publication should be rejected. @drcbond @Lisa_J_Whop @IndigenousX

” Our present and persisting ill-health as First Nations peoples is not because of a lack of research, or a lack of white knowing and control over our lives, in fact, it is a product of it.

Transformative health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will only come about through foregrounding Indigenous sovereignty, both politically and intellectually.

If you are a non-Indigenous health researcher feeling triggered by this article, please don’t run to the nearest Indigenous person for validation.

They are already giving you a lot of free labour (whether they are the admin officer, the research assistant or, by some miracle, the lead CI).

This article was written to free them up to do the work their people need them to do, not burden them with more of your feelings.”

Just in time for the Lowijta International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference (18-20 June) Authors Chelsea Bond, Lisa Whop and Ali Drummond bring you this thought provoking Aboriginal research challenge

Originally published by IndigenousX see full press release below or Here

Download the full program

2019 Lowitja Program

Or access digital program

The digital program is available HERE. This version of the program will allow you to search all presentations including posters, their abstracts, and presenter bios.

This will be the up-to-the-minute version of the conference program. You will also be able to tailor the program to your preference.

Press Release

With increasing financial investment and commitment to Indigenous health via the National Health and Medical Research Council and Closing the Gap since 2002 and 2007 respectively, every man and their dog, or rather every white saviour and their intentions are all up in our grants, discovering the solutions to our problems (or the next problem to the problem).

What has resulted is a whole lot of noise published in the name of knowledge production, of which the benefit to Indigenous peoples and our health remains questionable, despite the emergence of Indigenous health researchers during this time.

This is most likely because so much of our intellectual and emotional labour is taken up reviewing and remedying highly problematic research grants and publications about us, that serve little purpose beyond the next academic promotion of the lead chief investigator (who typically isn’t Indigenous).

But never fear, we are here to help.

As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researchers, working across varying health research contexts, we’ve pretty much read it all and we have devised a foolproof test to tell you if what you’re reading is worth the paper it’s written on, or the research grant that funded it.

Also, it might come in handy the next time that special someone asks for your ‘cultural advice’ on their research grant or publication.

The extra bonus is, you can then use all that spare time writing your own research grant, of which you will lead. No more being the bridesmaid – this is your time to shine.

Below is the Blackfulla Test; 11 of the most common violations found in Indigenous health research grants or publications.

That paper or proposal you are reading fails if it:

Includes “intentions”. Typically, intentions are referenced as “good” or “well” and something of which is exclusively possessed by non-Indigenous peoples. Non-Indigenous authors will often argue that “intentions” are worth mentioning so as not to alienate the (white) readership, but its inclusion, even in the supposed ‘objective’ research, make clear that this is a “settler move to innocence”rationalising making a career from the problem of Indigenous health, while never actually fixing it. Also, these are the same people who supervise Indigenous PhD students and tell them they can’t use Standpoint Theory (incl. Indigenous, or Indigenous Women’s) because it is biased and not scholarly. This manoeuvre sustains neo-Missionary narratives from which they build research careers and research centres.
Makes no mention of “colonisation”because that would be “too political” they say. Please refer above for why this is problematic, and what enables it. The health sciences have always operated as an apparatus of colonial control in the regulation and surveillance of Black bodies and the production of racialized knowledges, both via biological and culturalist explanations. It cannot continue to claim to be an innocent observer when it has and continues to be complicit. Also, if colonisation is referenced as a past event, rather than an ongoing process, it doesn’t count.
Makes no mention of “race or racism”…because settlers and their feelings. But look if they can’t get what’s wrong with writing about racialized health inequalities while insisting that race isn’t real as a system of oppression or a category of analysis then they need to stop now and go do a systematic review of systematic reviews.
Refers to “our indigenous” (sic). This is a kind of double whammy, the possessive pronoun is not a mark of inclusion, rather it works in the Distinguished Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson “white possessive logics” kind of way. The lower case I is an all too frequent, but a deliberate grammatical error. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Indigenous people are proppa nouns and as such should be capitalised.
Refers to ATSI people *shudder*. For the people at the back, we are First Nations peoples, we are not an acronym.
Prefaces some statistic with “alarming” or “appalling”. Much like #1, this is a settler pearl clutching moment in which they can position themselves as the only possible saviour for the native folk. Worse still, it is also used in research grant applications providing the moral imperative for investing in said research, which has no specific Indigenous health application. Yes we didn’t think it possible, but some have taken “Black window dressing” to a whole new level.
Refers to Indigenous peoples primarily in terms of “risk” and “vulnerability”or worse describes Indigeneity as the risk factor. *Clears throat*. Send them back to #3 and tell them to slap themselves for not believing us when we said they need to deal with race.
Includes the phrase “strength-based” without naming any specific strengths of Indigenous peoples, cultures or communities. Strengths based requires a reimagining of Indigeneity which renders Black excellence blatantly visible. This requires more than inverting proportions, in fact it requires reconfiguring the problematic assumptions of Indigeneity apparent in that seemingly objective research question sissy.
Is concerned with monitoring or illuminating understandings of “poor” individual health behaviours of Blackfullas in such a way that is completely divorced from the social, political, historical, and economic context in which they occur. Describing or rather dismissing that context as ‘complex’ and then suggesting the solution is one of education, awareness raising, health literacy, or more research is gammon.
Acknowledges the advisory role that Indigenous people have played, often as “cultural mentors” and typically at the end of the publication somewhere (some might name them, while others may refer to the committee or “the community” more broadly which operates to include anyone and no one in particular). Indigenous Health Research which insists that Blackfullas can only ever be the (cultural) advisor and never the author, need to be cancelled.
Has no first author Indigenous publications on their reference list. How one can operate in a space in which Indigenous people have made such a profound contribution and not cite the intellectual labour that mob have made has a real kind of Terra Nullius vibe. See #2 and our point about colonisation being an ongoing process, even in health research. Also refer them to Rigney’s articulation of “intellectual nullius”.

Well did you pass the test ?

NACCHO Our Members #Aboriginal Health Deadly Good News Stories : Features National @NACCHOChair @KenWyattMP #NSW @ahmrc #RedfernAMS #KatungulACCHO#VIC @VACCHO_org #QLD @QAIHC_QLD @DeadlyChoices #WA @TheAHCWA #WirrakaMayaACCHO #NT @CAACongress

1.1 National : Minister’s ongoing talks about the Closing the Gap refresh

1.2 National : CEO Pat Turner presents at international Conference in New Zealand about developing a ” Roadmap to end RHD “

1.3 National : Our Deputy CEO Dawn Casey co chair Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Systems Evaluation: Health Sector Co-design Group (HSCG) Download Communiqué for February 2019

2.1 NACCHO joins Redfern AMS congratulating Aunty Dulcie Flower OAM on receiving an Order of Australia Medal (OAM)

2.2 NSW : Download the 75 Page AH&MRC report om World No Tobacco Day and the work being done by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) in tobacco control.

2.3 NSW : Katungul ACCHO Fathers and Sons video launched

3.VIC : VACCHO SEWB Gathering for members , training ,celebrating culture and spending time together.

4.1 QLD : QAIHC Mobile health scoping study to address cardiovascular disease risk factors

4.2 QLD : The Deadly Choices Maroons health campaign being implemented by Community Controlled Health Services throughout Queensland kicks in over coming weeks

5.1 WA : AHCWA recently delivered our Aboriginal Health Worker Immunisation Course at the Bega Garnbirringu Health Service in Kalgoorlie.

5.2 WA : Alfred Barker Chairperson of Wirraka Maya working to educate and support men about the role they can play in preventing FASD

6.NT : Congress ACCHO Alice Springs Medical Director on Queens Birthday Honour List

How to submit in 2019 a NACCHO Affiliate or Members Good News Story ?

Email to Colin Cowell NACCHO Media

Mobile 0401 331 251

Wednesday by 4.30 pm for publication Thursday /Friday

1.1 National : Minister’s ongoing talks about the Closing the Gap refresh

Our Acting NACCHO Chair Donnella Mills and representatives of the Coalition of Peaks met in Canberra this week with Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt for constructive and positive ongoing talks about the Closing the Gap refresh and the Partnership Agreement with the Coalition of Peaks.

1.2 National : CEO Pat Turner presents at international Conference in New Zealand about developing a ” Roadmap to end RHD “

Our CEO Pat Turner presenting powerful case studies at Indigenous Cardiovascular Health Conference in NEW Zealand this – keeping governments accountable to community priorities in health

Developing a new Roadmap to end RHD Pat talked about the partnership of NACCHO with the RHD coalition

The Department of Health commissioned a national evaluation of the Australian Government’s investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary health care, which occurs primarily through the Indigenous Australians’ Health Programme.

This evaluation is occurring over four years from 2019-2022 and includes the evaluation team working closely with a Health Sector Co-Design Group (HSCG).

The HSCG’s third meeting in February was the first meeting in the implementation phase of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Systems Evaluation.

After an Acknowledgement of Country and a welcome by the acting co-chairs – Dr Casey and Ms Young – members were invited to discuss what was ‘top of mind’ coming into the meeting.

Download Communique HSCG Meeting No.3 Communique – 2019_05_31

2.1 NACCHO joins Redfern AMS congratulating Aunty Dulcie Flower OAM on receiving an Order of Australia Medal (OAM)

On behalf of the Aboriginal Medical Service Board, Staff and Community we wish Aunty Dulcie Flower congratulations on receiving an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) on the weekend.

Aunty Dulcie is an AMS founding member, volunteer, a staff member and continues today as a long standing board member.

Dulcie was instrumental in the development of the Aboriginal Health Worker Program, which ensures our communities are advocated and cared for by appropriately skilled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce staff.

Read Dolcie’s interview about Indigenous rights activism HERE

Dulcie has had distinguished career as a Registered Nurse and Lecturer, an activist and mentor, but above all a friend to many.

Congratulations Aunty Dulcie!

2.2 NSW : Download the 75 Page AH&MRC report om World No Tobacco Day and the work being done by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) in tobacco control.

Around the world last month, activities for World No Tobacco Day 2019 put the spotlight on “tobacco and lung health”, aiming to increase awareness of tobacco’s impact on people’s lung health and the fundamental role lungs play for the health and well-being of all people.

The campaign also served as a call to action, advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption and engaging stakeholders across multiple sectors in the fight for tobacco control.

In Australia, the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW (AH&MRC) sponsored an innovative Twitter Festival, hosted by Croakey Professional Services, to profile the work being done by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) in tobacco control.

Download the report from Here

NoTobaccoDay_Report_Final

Or from Croakey

https://croakey.org/read-all-about-it-download-the-communitycontrol-twitter-festival-report/

NACCHO social media contribution page 11 -15

2.3 NSW : Katungul ACCHO Fathers and Sons video launched

Katungul Koori Connections Officer Wally Stewart talking about last years Father & Sons Camp; a fantastic program that brings people back to country, helping to keep culture alive and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

Music created by participants of the Katungul Music/Dance program run by Sean Kinchela & Wally Stewart.

Video courtesy of Afterglow. We’d like to thank them for their generosity & partnership – www.afterglow.net.au S

3.1 VIC : VACCHO SEWB Gathering for members , training ,celebrating culture and spending time together.

VACCHO’s Whitney Solomon, ETU Program Coordinator SEWB, delivering Ice Prevention training to Victoria’s awesome SEWB Aboriginal Health Workers at VACCHO’s SEWB Gathering

Proud Waywurru woman Sam Paxton from Djimba (in red), guides SEWB Aboriginal Health workers through a yarning circle at our SEWB Gathering

Proud Wagiman man Nathan Patterson from Iluka Art & Design [-o-] leads a painting workshop while proud Gunditjmara woman Laura Thompson from The Koorie Circle teaches SEWB Aboriginal health workers to create contemporary Aboriginal designed and inspired jewellery made from sustainably sourced timber.

So it’s not all work at our SEWB Gatherings, it’s also about celebrating culture and spending time together.

4.1 QLD : QAIHC Mobile health scoping study to address cardiovascular disease risk factors

“This type of m-health innovation has the potential to provide culturally responsive and appropriate primary health care that can be embedded in our models of care.

Preliminary data suggest m-health technology can increase engagement and ownership throughout the patient journey and facilitate sustainable positive heath behaviour changes.

As cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of disease for First Nations Peoples, we are committed to exploring options that empower individuals to improve the management of their health, as well as improve access to health services.”

Chief Executive Officer of QAIHC, Neil Willmett, is excited about the potential the app has to improve health care access and health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with hypertension.

The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples taking antihypertensive medication has increased, indicating a rise in the number of people at risk of cardiovascular disease.

The Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have partnered on a mobile health (m-health) scoping study for the screening and management of cardiovascular disease.

CSIRO have developed an app that can be customised for blood pressure monitoring and are interested in learning how it could work within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Organisation (ATSICCHO) sector’s models of care. Specifically, CSIRO and QAIHC are seeking input from the sector about how m-health could help manage risk factors for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with cardiovascular disease.

An m-health based model of care could facilitate blood pressure and medication management in people who have been diagnosed with hypertension, reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Additionally, the scoping study will assess how a m-health based model of care could be adapted or enhanced to support preventative health interventions addressing cardiovascular disease risk factors such as increasing physical activity, improving dietary intake, and reducing smoking rates.

Between April and June 2019, QAIHC and CSIRO are conducting consultations to seek input from regional, remote, and urban ATSICCHOs on the use of m-health for the management of risk factors for people with cardiovascular disease. This feedback will be used to inform development of the hypertension m-health app.

Outcomes of the scoping study will be shared with the ATSICCHO Sector in the coming months.

4.2 QLD : The Deadly Choices Maroons health campaign being implemented by Community Controlled Health Services throughout Queensland kicks in over coming weeks

Two legends of QRL, supporting our state-wide Deadly Maroons campaign.
Book in now for your health check, at a participating AMS and score one of these deadly shirts.

“ The Deadly Maroons health campaign is being implemented by Community Controlled Health Services throughout Queensland and further strengthens delivery of our Deadly Choices messages which aim to empower our people to take control of their health – to stop smoking, to eat healthier and exercise more,”

Institute for Urban Indigenous Health CEO Adrian Carson

The Deadly Choices – Deadly Maroons State-wide preventative health campaign moves full throttle over coming weeks, with a host of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women featuring for Queensland in the annual State of Origin match on Friday June 21 in Sydney, before the men do battle in Perth on Sunday June 23.

What changes are you mob making this year, towards a healthier and happier life?@QLDmaroons' Dane Gagai shares his Deadly Choice. pic.twitter.com/qqudi9xyg4

— Deadly Choices (@DeadlyChoices) June 13, 2019

Fans will have the opportunity to mix and mingle with all the NRLW superstars this weekend during the QRL’s traditional pre-Origin Fan Day on Sunday at South Pine Sporting Complex at Brendale, where the Deadly Maroons team will also be out in force.

NRLW forward mainstay Tallisha Harden, who was a standout in the Indigenous All Stars match earlier in the year, has made a speedy recovery from ankle surgery to earn her place in the side and is hoping to turn the tables on the Blues this year.

Former Jillaroo and World Cup winner, Jenni-Sue Hoepper returns to the representative scene following an extended maternity break, while livewire centre Amber Pilley caps off a stellar 12 months, earning her first Queensland cap after an NRLW Premiership-winning season with the Brisbane Broncos.

There’s been considerable talk surrounding the injection of Stephanie Mooka, who was a standout at the recent NRLW National Championships and is likely to form a formidable centre pairing with Pilley.

All four proud, Indigenous women advocate the importance of healthy living and are supportive of the Deadly Maroons program, which helps promote healthy lifestyle choices among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

“The Deadly Maroons campaign is an amazing partnership initiative between the Queensland Rugby League and the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health’s Deadly Choices preventative health program,” confirmed Harden.

Deadly Choices Nathan Appo caught up with @QLDmaroons debutant David Fifita, talking all things @DeadlyChoices @croakeyblog @NACCHOAustralia @NRL pic.twitter.com/PXEcPGjEgX

— Deadly Choices (@DeadlyChoices) June 5, 2019

“As a speech pathologist with the Institute, a representative of the Deadly Maroons and a Deadly Choices Ambassador, I’ve seen first-hand how these programs make a positive difference in the lives of so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

“Winning next Friday is what we’re all about when we go into camp this weekend, but I also know all the girls are aware of the Deadly Maroons campaign and are looking forward to supporting this deadly promotion.”

The support of the women is matched by an unwavering commitment among the men’s team who have already generated immense interest right across Queensland.

“The Deadly Maroons health campaign is being implemented by Community Controlled Health Services throughout Queensland and further strengthens delivery of our Deadly Choices messages which aim to empower our people to take control of their health – to stop smoking, to eat healthier and exercise more,” added Institute for Urban Indigenous Health CEO Adrian Carson.

“Football is so much more than a game – it is a vehicle to drive important health messages for our people and to encourage our people to access their local Community Controlled Health Services for support to make deadly choices, including completing a regular Health Check.

“Our Deadly Choices shirts have played a key role in driving demand for preventative health care, contributing to an incredible 4000% increase in Health Checks in South East Queensland and leading to the expansion of Deadly Choices across Queensland, with support from Queensland and Australian Governments.”

“Through Deadly Choices, we’re making a real difference in closing the health and life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and with the support and commitment of the QRL, and ongoing support from Queensland and Australian Governments, momentum will be enhanced over coming years.”

5.WA : AHCWA recently delivered our Aboriginal Health Worker Immunisation Course at the Bega Garnbirringu Health Service in Kalgoorlie.

The training is run in conjunction with the Communicable Disease Control Directorate Department of Health and is a nationally accredited immunisation course that provides Aboriginal Health Practitioners with the knowledge and skills to promote and safely immunise clients across all ages.

For more information on the course, contact our Immunisation Coordinator, Stacee Burrows at stacee.burrows@ahcwa.org

5.2 WA : Alfred Barker Chairperson of Wirraka Maya working to educate and support men about the role they can play in preventing FASD

Meet Alfred Barker. He’s a Traditional Owner and the Chairperson of Wirraka Maya, where he works to educate and support men about the role they can play in preventing FASD, through supporting their partners not to drink during pregnancy. “‘Grog before, during and after pregnancy is no good for Dad, Mum and bub’.

6.NT : Congress ACCHO Alice Springs Medical Director on Queens Birthday Honour List

“Congress is very proud to have Dr Sam’s outstanding contribution recognised on the 2019 Queens Birthday Honours list with an OAM”

Congress Chief Executive Officer, Donna Ah Chee.

Congress Medical Director, Dr Sam Heard has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the Queen’s Birthday honours, for his contribution to Medicine. Dr Heard was recognised for his work as a GP across the Northern Territory and his tireless commitment to the education of doctors and other medical staff for over 20 years, particularly through extensive training of GP registrars.

He served 9 years as Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Regional Director and 10 years as Chair of Northern Territory General Practice Education.

As Congress’ Medical Director, Dr Heard is applying his wealth of knowledge and experience to assist Congress in the vital work we are doing in Aboriginal health especially in the recruitment, retention and training of our current and future medical workforce.

Dr Heard provides clinical leadership to Congress’ 14 clinics in Alice Springs and across six remote Central Australian communities.

NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #Racism : Aboriginal Health promotion footage use by Sunrise Breakfast Show @sunriseon7 could be seen by some in the Yirrkala community as “damaged goods” says judge

“ The group alleges that by using the footage in conjunction with the discussion on child abuse, Sunrise implied they abused or neglected children.

They also claim Seven breached their confidence and privacy in using the footage, originally filmed for the promotion of Aboriginal health, for its unintended purpose; and that the network breached Australian consumer laws by acting unconscionably.

Yolngu woman Kathy Mununggurr and 14 others filed the lawsuit in February, claiming they had been defamed after blurred footage of them was broadcast in the background of the panel discussion.

Watch CEO Pat Turner , Olga Havnen CEO Danila Dilba and James Ward appear on #Sunrise to respond to Indigenous child protection issues #wehavethesolutions March 2018

Plus Read Extra Coverage HERE

Aboriginal children shown in footage that accompanied a breakfast television segment on child abuse in Indigenous communities could be seen by some in the community as “damaged goods”, a judge has said.

A group of Aboriginal people from a remote community in the Northern Territory is suing Channel Seven over the Sunrise “Hot Topics” panel discussion hosted by Samantha Armytage on March 13 last year.

Originally published HERE

The segment followed public commentary by then-Assistant Minister for Children David Gillespie on non-Indigenous families adopting at-risk Aboriginal children and featured commentator Prue MacSween, who said a “fabricated PC outlook” was preventing white Australians from adopting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

“Don’t worry about the people that would cry and hand-wring and say this would be another Stolen Generation. Just like the first Stolen Generation where a lot of people were taken because it was for their wellbeing … we need to do it again, perhaps,” MacSween said during the discussion, which also featured Brisbane radio host Ben Davis.

The segment sparked an intense backlash, including protests outside the Sunrise studios at Sydney’s Martin Place and condemnation from the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

During a strike-out application brought by Seven on Wednesday, Seven’s barrister, Kieran Smark, SC, said there were issues with claiming those in the footage could be identified.

But Justice Steven Rares said Aboriginal communities in remote parts of Australia, particularly the Northern Territory, were “much more integrated than the suburbs of this country”.

“You’ve got a whole community up there, most of whom will be able to recognise each other, some of whom watch Sunrise,” Justice Rares said.

The group from the Yirrkala community allege the children in the footage were also defamed, but Mr Smark said a reasonable person would not shun and avoid a person they perceived to be a child victim of assault.

Mr Smark said ordinary people would react to victims of abuse with sympathy and it would be “counter-intuitive” to avoid them.

But Justice Rares said members of the community “might not be as sympathetic as you say”.

“The fact is imputations of abuse reflect on, as I understand it as a member of the community, whether you want to associate with people who are victims of abuse, because they are going to be disturbed by that abuse,” Justice Rares said.

“People are not going to associate with people they feel are damaged goods.”

Justice Rares said Aboriginal people had “by far” the highest rates of incarceration in Australia and many of those imprisoned came from traumatised backgrounds.

He dismissed Seven’s application to strike out the group’s pleadings.

Barrister Louise Goodchild, representing the group, said interpreters would need to be brought down for the trial and foreshadowed expert evidence in relation to cultural shame being heard.

NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #SocialMedia #MentalHealth #SuicidePrevention : Is your mob safe online ? New Report: Urges parents and communities to seek support with children’s online safety

” Kids are growing up in two worlds, the real world and an online world. Just like we protect kids from dangers in the real world, it’s important to protect their safety in their online world too.

Many of our mob are unsure how to help keep their kids safe online. These resources are designed to educate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and carers of children aged 5 – 18 about the importance of starting the chat with young people around online safety.

Visit Be Deadly Online to find out more about the big issues online, like bullying, reputation and respect for others “

Download StarttheChatandStaySafeOnlinepdf

Start the Chat

Download Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Resources Here

“eSafety has built engaging and award-winning educational content to help adults understand the issues and trends so they can have informed conversations with young people about what they are doing and experiencing online.

There is no substitute for being as engaged in our kids’ online lives the way we are in their everyday lives.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to parenting in the digital-age. Our materials seek to accommodate these differing parenting styles and are tailored to be used in accordance with your child’s age, maturity and level of resilience,”

eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant

Download the Report eSafetyResearchParentingDigitalAge

Parents are the first port of call for most young people affected by negative experiences online but less than half of parents feel confident to manage the situation, according to new research issued yesterday.

The report, Parenting in the digital age, conducted by the eSafety Commissioner (eSafety) explores the experience of parents and carers raising children in a fast-paced connected world.

eSafety found only 46% of Australian parents feel confident in dealing with online risks their children might face, with only one third (36%) actively seeking information on how to best manage situations like cyberbullying, unwanted contact or ‘sexting’ and ‘sending nudes’.

According to the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, the findings reinforced the importance of providing resources to support parents and carers in managing conversations about online safety.

“We know dealing with online issues can be challenging for many parents. The issues are complex, nuanced and ever-changing and are different from what we experienced growing up,” says Inman Grant.

“The research shows 94% of parents want more information about online safety. This is why it is critical to equip parents and carers with up to date resources and advice on how to keep our children safer online. Australian parents need to know they are not alone in navigating this brave new online world and that there is constructive guidance to help them start the chat.”

Starting the chat, an important part of growing up safe online

“Everyone has a role to play in further safeguarding our children online and we are seeking the help of all parents, carers, educators, counsellors and anyone else that has a connection to a child or young person to answer this call.”

Starting the chat with teens, key to online safety (Stars Foundation)

The report also uncovered the varied parenting styles used to help manage online safety in the home. Parents with older children were more likely to favour an open parenting style, providing guidance and advice, while parents with younger children were more likely to adopt a restrictive approach by controlling online access and setting rules around internet-use.

“There is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to parenting in the digital-age. Our materials seek to accommodate these differing parenting styles and are tailored to be used in accordance with your child’s age, maturity and level of resilience,” adds Inman Grant.

Now is the time to start the chat.

Visit eSafety.gov.au for a free copy of the report, as well as tools, tips and advice for parents, carers and educators to help manage these conversations, including tailored information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as well as resources in various translated languages.

NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News

The national authority in Aboriginal primary health care – Our Health in Our Hands

Tag Archives: Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service

NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #SuicidePrevention @cbpatsisp The #WISPC18 #NISPC18Conference Report, released this week, confirms the urgent need for action in colonised countries throughout the world

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NACCHO Our Members #Aboriginal Health Deadly Good News Stories : Features National @NACCHOChair #LowitjaConf2019 @Apunipima #715HealthChecks #QLD @QAIHC_QLD #CEOSleepout $ #NT @KenWyattMP visits @AMSANTaus #NSW Katungul #Vic MDAS #WA South West AMS #SA #ACT

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Aboriginal Health and Indigenous Advancement Strategy : NACCHO CEO Pat Turner expresses her frustration that another ANAO report raises concerns about @pmc_gov_au management of #Indigenous Affairs.

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NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #LowitjaConf2019 Speech : Donnella Mills Acting Chair NACCHO and John Paterson CEO AMSANT presents the Coalition of ACCO Peaks on #ClosingtheGap

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NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #ElderCare : Broome hearing of the Royal Commission focuses on the ability of our mob to gain access to aged care services as well as the extent to which #remote areas are included in the availability of aged care services

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NACCHO Aboriginal Health Research News : Ngarruwan Ngadju: First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre gives the team a real identity says @kathleenclapham and @DrMLongbottom

Download the full report ‘Active & Safe: Preventing unintentional injury to Aboriginal children and young people in NSW’(PDF 2.4 MB)

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Aboriginal Health Researchers Challenge : Just in time for #LowitjaConf19 “The Blackfulla test” 11 reasons that Indigenous health research grant/publication should be rejected. @drcbond @Lisa_J_Whop @IndigenousX

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NACCHO Our Members #Aboriginal Health Deadly Good News Stories : Features National @NACCHOChair @KenWyattMP #NSW @ahmrc #RedfernAMS #KatungulACCHO#VIC @VACCHO_org #QLD @QAIHC_QLD @DeadlyChoices #WA @TheAHCWA #WirrakaMayaACCHO #NT @CAACongress

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NACCHO Aboriginal Health and #Racism : Aboriginal Health promotion footage use by Sunrise Breakfast Show @sunriseon7 could be seen by some in the Yirrkala community as “damaged goods” says judge

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Download the full report ‘Active & Safe: Preventing unintentional injury to Aboriginal children and young people in NSW’(PDF 2.4 MB)

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