The School of Medicine received recognition by the LIME (Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education) Network at the annual conference in New Zealand last week.  Jenny Akers and I proudly accepted the award in the category of “Leading Innovation in Community Engagement” for the Year 5 Indigenous Health attachment on behalf of the School of Medicine and our AMS’s Community partners.

This program would not have developed without the advice, support, encouragement and commitment from our AMS’s Community partners and staff during the year.  Through our time travelling around NSW visiting your service, establishing and developing our relationship with you and your community, has allowed us to develop a program that will enrich our student’s medical education, now and into the future, as they learn about, and continue to contribute to the work for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and the communities they serve.

We would also like to thank you for your input into the end of year workshop as our teaching partners from Aboriginal Medical Services, that has given us a wonderful opportunity to discuss the evolution of the 5^th year attachment and other fields of collaborative endeavour.

On behalf of Jenny and I, we would like to wish you and your staff a Merry Christmas and safe and happy New Year and we look forward to working with you in 2012.

Kind Regards
Cris Carriage - Indigenous Program Officer, University of Western Sydney

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Family Centred Primary Health Care, Walgett AMS, NSW.

For many Aboriginal people in the outback town of Walgett and outlying rural communities in the far north west of New South Wales, accessing health care facilities is not an easy task.
Since 2008, a remote outreach program provided by the Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service Co-operative Limited (WAMS) – the Family Centred Primary Health Care (FCPHC) – has made life easier for people in the region who are unable to travel to Walgett for medical attention.

The program is specifically targeted to the Aboriginal people of Walgett and its outlying rural communities. Patients can access quality and culturally appropriate primary healthcare in a comfortable environment.
Regional communities within the Brewarrina, Bourke and Walgett Shires are now serviced by mobile medical staff who travel in a medically-equipped van. A caravan was purchased by WAMS and converted into a portable medical clinic to service these remote communities.

The mobile team provides weekly clinics at Goodooga, Pilliga, Gingie and Namoi Village, working closely with area health staff in these towns. Planning is underway to begin in other townships.
Medical staff travelling to these remote communities take health care professionals with them to treat people who can’t make it to the medical service in Walgett.

WAMS successfully applied for funding from the Department of Health and Ageing in 2008 to establish the outreach program. The scoping process reviewed what medical attention was needed, demographics of the towns and existing health care providers in these communities.

The program’s main objectives are to improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to provide quality primary health care access to people in outlying communities. It promotes a holistic approach to treating the whole family, from the kids to the grandparents.

WAMS promotes the FCPHC program on its website, flyers, local radio and information packs and leaflets at community events. It delivers the program in partnership with the Greater Western Area Health Service (GWAHS) and the Outback Division of General Practice.
Results have shown it is effective in reducing chronic illness factors, due to the visiting clinicians. Without this service many people would not know how to prevent or manage their chronic illness.

Find out more:
Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service Co-operative Limited
37 Pitt Street
Walgett NSW 2832
Phone: (03) 6828 1059 or (03) 6828 1611
Email: skye.duncan@walgettams.com.au
Website: http://www.walgettams.com.au/services/fcphc/what-is-fcphc.html

2010

MONDAY 20th: OPEN

TUESDAY 21st: OPEN

WEDNESDAY 22nd: OPEN

THURSDAY 23rd: OPEN for staff only

THURSDAY 23rd: CLOSED to the pubic

FRIDAY 24th: CLOSED

MONDAY 27th: CLOSED

TUESDAY 28th: CLOSED

WEDNESDAY 29th: CLOSED

THURSDAY 30th: CLOSED

FRIDAY 31st: CLOSED

2011

MONDAY 3^rd: CLOSED

WAMS Eye Health Co-ordinator – Phyllis Dennis-Tighe (AHW)

Read Article (health.nsw.gov.au)

The Fellowship I’ve just been awarded is the Churchill Fellowship, from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.  101 Fellowships nationally were awarded this year, from over 1000 applications. (28 of these Fellowships were awarded in NSW).  You have to submit a written application, then if successful, have a State based interview, then if successful, go to a national interview, then the final decisions are made.

These Fellowships have been going for over 40 years.

They are awarded to “Australians who are striving for excellence, are passionate about their profession and who have a strong community focus”.

It is a travelling fellowship to enable people to study in their field of work, that they wouldn’t be able to do in their own country.

I’ll be looking at “the implementation of community based preventive dental practices in rural and remote Indigenous communities.” and will be going to Canada and Brazil, in June-July next year for 5 weeks.

The NSW awards will be presented by Marie Bashir at Government House on Friday 23 July.

Sandra Meihubers

Flyer of Churchill Fellowship Recipients (PDF)
http://www.churchilltrust.com.au/

Aboriginal Health College 2010

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WAMS Autumn/Winter Newsletter 2010

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