Welcome

A welcome from Dr Ngiare Brown

Ngiare Brown

It’s time to do something real for Aboriginal health.

For those of us who work in healthcare, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health is everybody’s business.

As I remind my students and colleagues, behind every ugly statistic, there are real people.  There are also thousands of positive, personal interactions taking place, and great people are working together respectfully, every day. We just don’t get to hear enough about it.

Over time, our challenge is to attract more Indigenous Australians into healthcare careers.  In the short term, we need to increase the number of experienced professionals who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

If you haven’t had much, or any, interaction with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, you are not alone and this should not hold you back.

Cultural competency training and local induction will help you understand where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients are coming from, how to appreciate Aboriginal communities, and how you might be better able to work with us more comfortably.

This is also an opportunity for you to think about what you really love about your work, and how much time you are currently spending doing what you love.  You may find that there’s a better and more rewarding way for you to use your skills, strengths and time.

This might mean changing the way that you work to be more welcoming to Indigenous patients in your existing role.  It might mean working as a locum with an Aboriginal Medical Service in your area, doing a short term clinical placement, or relocating to a regional or remote area.  There are many options.

For my Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters who are working in health related roles, I have a special message. We come from a long and proud tradition of story-telling, and by sharing our stories we can encourage more of our mob to join our ranks.

We can also help current and future generations of healthcare providers to get to know us and better understand what it is like for our families and communities.

Through this website we hope to tell the real stories of people who are working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.  We also hope to help people who work in medicine, nursing, dentistry, allied health and public health link in with people and organisations to learn more about the opportunities available in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.

We don’t need to over-think this.  By sharing our knowledge, and relating to each other as members of the human race, we all have the opportunity to do something real about those ugly statistics, and perhaps change our own lives for the better at the same time.

 About Ngiare Brown