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ISSUE NO. 12 DECEMBER 2005ISSN 1444-1853

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The past year has seen a lot of changes at the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit, and we have many achievements to celebrate with our friends and partners. During NAIDOC week we launched our new name, Onemda, and newly developed website, and hosted a seminar on the relationship between a Treaty and Koori health. Over the past year we have also published several articles and other publications, one of the highlights being Nyernila Koories Kila Degaia: Listen up to Koories Speak about Health, an oral history of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service. Recently we also launched the Victorian Aboriginal Ethics Project Report, which provides feedback on a collaborative project carried out with the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

Onemda also piloted a new subject in our postgraduate program entitled ‘Critical Debates in Aboriginal Health’. A number of people from the Community contributed to its delivery and we are grateful to them for their support and generosity. The Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education (LIME) conference in Perth, which we hosted with the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association and the Committee of Deans of Australian Medical Schools (CDAMS), grew out of our work in developing the CDAMS National Aboriginal Health Curriculum Framework. And in November the CIPHER project team, a collaboration with the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin that focuses on developing policy-relevant research, held its first annual learning conference in Canberra. Onemda staff also had input into the CRC for Aboriginal Health’s (CRCAH) Education and Training Review, the outcome of which will reshape the CRCAH’s approach to its education program.

The Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Tobacco Control, which is housed at Onemda, was launched during a year in which we were also fortunate to welcome a number of visitors, including the Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner Mr Tom Calma. During 2005, several members of the Onemda team gave invited guest lectures and were recipients of a variety of awards and funding opportunities, including from the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council and the University of Melbourne.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support in 2005, and wish you a happy Christmas and New Year’s break, refreshed for 2006. Ian Anderson

FROM THE DIRECTOR

2 • Talkin' Strong

CONTENTSFrom the Director 1

CRCAH Update 2–3

CEITC Website Goes Live! 4

Croc Festival 5

Visitors 6–7

Talkin’ Strong & Planning Days 8

Critical Debates 9

Community Profile 10

Staff Moves 11

Talkin' Strong • 3

Development of Primary Health Care ProjectsThe Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH) has been developing projects in its Comprehensive Primary Health Care, Health Systems and Workforce Program. Unlike ‘traditional’ research development, this has involved consulting industry groups about the development of brief project outlines. Staff from the CRCAH have visited key community organisations, including the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), to ensure that research they will use is being developed.

A call was put out to researchers, community organisations and government departments to ask people to let us know if they are interested in helping with developing the research – this might mean being a part of a project team, reviewing the scientific quality or commenting on the usefulness of a project.

The program leaders – Justin Mohamed, Ross Bailie and Ben Bartlett – are now working with the Research Director, Ian Anderson, to expand the project outlines and bring together small teams to write up the outlines into full proposals. The project topics currently being developed are grouped into three sections, all of which will include a health economics element. It is expected that some of these projects will merge as a great deal of overlap exists between the topics.

Macro Grouping:

• Structuring Aboriginal Health Funding to Improve Aboriginal Health Outcomes

• Coordination of Comprehensive Primary Health Care

• Workforce Models and Benchmarking

Health Service Focus:

• Community Controlled Service Support Hub Centres

• Quality Standards in Aboriginal Primary Health Care

Urban Grouping:

• How to Prevent People Dropping Through ‘Holes’ in the Health System

• Health Service Utilisation in Urban Areas

• Improving the Culture of Hospitals for Aboriginal Patients and Staff

Victorian Representation in CRCAH Leadership Roles The CRCAH Board meeting in August endorsed some changes in leadership roles within the CRCAH and Victoria is well represented. We’d like to congratulate these people on their new appointments and wish them well in these roles.

Jill Gallagher, CEO of VACCHO, was elected to be one of two independent board members. The University of Melbourne is now also represented by Professor Terry Nolan, Head of the School of Population Health.

Program leaders were also appointed in August and include:

• Justin Mohamed, Chair of VACCHO and Director of Academy of Health and Sport Education (UniMelb) – Comprehensive Primary Health Care, Health Systems and Workforce Program Leader

• Kevin Rowley (UniMelb) – Chronic Conditions Program Leader

• Ross Andrews (UniMelb) – Healthy Skin Program Leader

Education and Training Review The CRCAH has been conducting a review of its education and training activities to ensure it makes an ongoing contribution to developing Indigenous health research in Australia.

Diane Walker and Sue Davy of the CRCAH have visited partner organisations around Australia, including the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University in July. This was followed by three focus group meetings in October.

A report has now gone to the board meeting. Recommendations have been made about how to attract and retain Aboriginal students, how to make sure there is Aboriginal leadership and participation in CRCAH activities, and how to encourage partnership between community and research organisations.

Communications ActivitiesThe CRCAH Annual Report is now available on the website at www.crcah.org.au and hardcopies are being printed. A number of short brochures on the CRCAH are being produced. Seminars showcasing the CRCAH are being organised in various locations around Australia and a date is being sought to hold a seminar in Melbourne next year.

CRC FOR ABORIGINAL HEALTH – UPDATE

For more information on the activities of the CRC for Aboriginal Health, please contact Johanna Monk on +61 3 8344 0884 or monkj@unimelb.edu.au or go to the website: www.crcah.org.au

Talkin' Strong • 4

On 10 August 2005 the Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Tobacco Control (CEITC) celebrated, along with more than 50 guests, the launch of its new website. CEITC was honoured to have guests from the Department of Health and Ageing, Victorian Cancer Council and VicHealth as well as many Community members and associates from the University of Melbourne.

The launch signified an important achievement for the CEITC and will be a valuable resource for people with an interest in Indigenous tobacco control. The website encourages people working in Indigenous tobacco control to share information with each other by providing up-to-date and relevant Australian tobacco control resources, research and links. Aboriginal Health Workers, researchers and others involved in Indigenous tobacco control will have access to the latest information in this area and will be able to communicate with other people and organisations in Australia through the CEITC site.

The website also provides a background to the CEITC, its projects and publications; a history of tobacco and Indigenous people; the health effects of smoking for Indigenous Australians; the benefits of quitting smoking (with links to services that can help); and relevant international developments in Indigenous tobacco control. Staff at the CEITC look forward to providing an accessible, relevant source of information including all the latest news and events from the CEITC.

The new CEITC wesite can be found at: www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/ceitc

CEITC WEBSITE GOES LIVE!

Talkin' Strong • 5

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne recently sent several staff and students to, and also partly sponsored, the Swan Hill Croc Festival with great success. More than 2400 young people, from the many rural towns that surround Swan Hill, participated in the Croc Festival event and learnt more about the various career options that higher education can provide. The University ran interactivities

with many prizes and giveaways to inspire and encourage young students to further both themselves and their studies – and perhaps even to consider university as a real option in the future.

Staff and the Outlook medical students from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences engaged with many participating students through the use of small health checks, and by letting the students have a go at

using stethoscopes. We also attracted their curiosity with our skeleton (see accompanying photo) and x-rays. The Outlook medical students encouraged and challenged the young participants to realise their full potential and to think about one day becoming doctors.

Also present were representatives from the Indigenous Studies Program, the Centre for Indigenous Education, the Faculty of Engineering and the Indigenous Students Law Society. The university’s Student Services were also on hand at the Croc Festival to talk to participants about realising their dreams through going to university.

All in all, it was a fantastic opportunity to chat with so many young people and show them how going to university could become their pathway for gaining greater success in their lives.

For more information contact Steve Clarke, Indigenous Liaison Officer, Faculty of MDHS, Tel: +61 3 8344 8057.

CROC FESTIVAL... Swan Hill... 11-13 October 2005

Talkin' Strong • 6

In October, Onemda was proud to host a visit by the Indigenous Staff Network of the Australian Rural Health Education Network (ARHEN). ARHEN represents all of the university departments of rural health, like the one at Shepparton. The Indigenous Staff Network has thirty or so members, and they are all hard-working, dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators, thinkers, community development workers and researchers. Many are doing ethical action research with Indigenous communities, and are in it for the long haul because it is often their own families and countrymen they are working with. A lot of the staff also work with medical, nursing and allied health students to give them a better understanding of Indigenous cultures and rural health issues.

Members of the Indigenous Staff Network, in Melbourne for their annual meeting, took the opportunity to visit Onemda to see the work that we do, and to tell us more about their work. After a hearty lunch, the mob joined us for a critical debates seminar about the new Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs) and what they will mean for our people’s health (see page 9).

We salute the Indigenous Staff Network at ARHEN for its excellent work and dedication, thank its members for the visit, and hope we continue to stay in touch and work together for the betterment of our mob’s health and well-being.

In August Onemda was fortunate to have Diane Wepa visit and give a presentation of her new book, Cultural Safety in Aotearoa New Zealand. Diane talked about the development of kawa whakaruhau/cultural safety in Aotearoa New Zealand, and about what cultural safety might mean in practice. A good discussion followed, and the application of the concepts in an Australian context was considered.

One of the overriding perspectives was that while Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand have many similar and shared experiences around colonisation, the development of consideration of cultural safety as both a term, and also a practice, had to travel its own path in the Australian context. Diane’s book is available by accessing the Australian Indigenous HealthInfonet.

VISITORS

The visit to Onemda by members of the Indigenous Staff Network, October 2005

Talkin' Strong • 7

On Tuesday 18 October 2005 a group of men from the Palyalatju Maparnpa Health Committee in the Kimberley (south of Halls Creek) visited Onemda. The group had presented at the National Men’s Health Conference (including the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Male Health Convention) the previous week.

They presented a painting of the country south of Wirrimanu (Balgo) to Professor Ian Anderson and Johanna Monk as a thank you to the CRCAH for helping them to fund their trip south.

The presentation at the conference, and sharing with Onemda, developed out of the research that one of our former PhD students, Dr Brian McCoy, completed with the men in the region during 2004. This has been an important part of a larger research dissemination and development process that has been occurring throughout 2005, and which has been acknowledged by the CRCAH as an in-kind project.

Onemda is currently hosting a visit by Marcia Anderson who is in her final year of internal medicine training at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. While at Onemda Marcia will be working on completing the Australian background paper for a project entitled ‘Action Oriented Indicators of Health and Health Systems Development for Indigenous Peoples in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand’.

Marcia says that ‘it’s been great to meet the staff at the Unit and to learn from people who have such a range of experience in Indigenous health research. I also really enjoyed my time in Canberra, met some excellent people and was able to observe the CRCAH showcase.’

Talkin' Strong • 8

On a warm and sunny mid-October afternoon, most of Onemda’s staff ventured to Lancefield, just north of Melbourne, to contribute to the Unit’s planning day. The primary focus of the planning day was to consolidate the Unit’s research plan for the coming 12 months. The research plan will be available early in 2006, but the main goal in terms of Onemda’s research activities is:

To conduct a research program in Aboriginal health that is informed by Koori community development principles, addresses Koori community and stakeholder priorities, informs health policy, teaching, health service delivery and practice, and contributes to long-term improvements in Aboriginal health.

As well as working together – away from email, mobile phones and the general buzz of activity at Bouverie Street – the staff of Onemda were able to spend some time sharing ideas and talking about plans for the future activities of the Unit.

PLANNING DAY

TALKIN’ STRONG DAYOnemda held its annual Community Day on the 8 November 2005. The purpose of the day is to talk about the work that Onemda is involved in and for the Koori Community to give us feedback and ideas for the future directions of the Unit. This year we focused on teaching and community development and there was quite a bit of discussion with lots of useful ideas. The day is an important forum for us to touch base with the Community and we appreciate people attending and sharing with us.

For more information contact Angela Clarke on +61 3 8344 0812 or Shaun Ewen on +61 3 8344 9230.

Talkin' Strong • 9

Plenty of Interest in Critical Debates in Aboriginal HealthDuring second semester, Onemda hosted a series of public seminars entitled ‘Critical Debates in Aboriginal Health’. Seminars were held fortnightly over the semester and addressed the following issues: Aboriginal leadership in the area of research ethics; community-controlled and mainstream delivery of Koori health services; health services for Koori youth; responses to family violence; Aboriginal men and appropriate health service provision; and the effects of mutual obligation on self-determination in health.

The success of the series was ensured by the generous participation of a range of people from our partners in the Community and from the policy area who, alongside different members of our staff, presented their perspectives on these important health issues. Key presenters during the series included Lisa Thorpe from the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service; Jill Gallagher from VACCHO; Charlie Williams, Mark Saunders and John Willis from La Trobe University’s Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society; Andy Price from the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health; Janet Laverick from the Department of Human Services, Victoria; Catherine Wildermuth from the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (OIPC); Professor Marcia Langton from the University’s Australian Indigenous Studies Program; and Dr Brian McCoy, a recent PhD graduate from the Centre for Health and Society. Our grateful thanks and appreciation go to these people for the time and expertise that they contributed.

CRITICAL DEBATES

From L-R: Bill Genat (Onemda), Catherine Wildermuth (OIPC), Marcia Langton (Australian Indigenous Studies Program); Ian Anderson (Onemda); Jill Gallagher (VACCHO)

The seminars attracted between 25 and 70 participants to each session demonstrating a keen interest by policy-makers, program managers and service providers from both the government and non-government sectors as well as by students. There were plenty of questions from the audience and special mention must be made of the contribution of some of the Koori cohort from the Master of Public Health program at the Institute of Koorie Education at Deakin University for their questions and comments throughout the series. It is very clear that there is much interest in what is happening on the ground in Koori health from people who wish to go beyond the superficial accounts dramatised within the media and to engage in face-to-face discussion to gain some real insights from the grassroots.

Talkin' Strong • 10

Jamie WilliamsonJamie Williamson, the new Indigenous Recruitment and Access Officer for the Centre for Indigenous Education, is from the Marmarang/Budawang people of Milton, NSW. He grew up in Echuca on the Murray River in Yorta Yorta country, before travelling around Australia to remote areas.

Jamie began his Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) at the University of Ballarat, but after deciding that this was not the field for him deferred from higher education and enrolled in TAFE undertaking the Advanced Diploma of Engineering (Civil) to ensure that he achieved some accreditation for what he had done.

Jamie has held a number of roles in Indigenous education – from being a Koori Educator to his current role as Recruitment and Access Officer. He comes to us from the East Gippsland Institute of TAFE where he worked as the Koori Liaison

Officer creating links and partnerships between the community and the greater institute, as well as undertaking student support activities. His current position concentrates on the recruitment of Indigenous students to the university, and he works closely with all faculties and departments within the university to help facilitate the transition of Indigenous students into their courses and into the wider university community.

Jamie can be contacted at the Centre for Indigenous Education on +61 3 8344 3888 or via email at jamiew@unimelb.edu.au

COMMUNITY PROFILE

Talkin' Strong • 11

STAFF MOVES

Welcome to Jane YuleJane Yule is the new part-time Communications Officer for Onemda, a position that has been created to cope with the Unit’s burgeoning publications program. She has responsibility for the editing and production of all publications and, with Nicole Waddell, the management of Onemda’s website. In addition, Jane holds a 0.5 position as the Communications Manager in the University’s Department of Medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and works as a freelance editor for organisations such as VicHealth.

Jane has a BA and a MA in History from Monash University, and has worked for many years as an academic editor at Monash, Deakin and Melbourne universities, as well as for various publishing houses in Melbourne and for a PR magazine in London. She is also a historical researcher who specialises in oral history. An experienced interviewer, Jane has conducted hundreds of interviews with a wide range of people of all ages, including teachers, students, unionists, migrants, refugees, activists and academics.

Jane can be contacted at Onemda via email at: janesy@unimelb.edu.au

Farewell to David ThomasOnemda staff bade farewell to postdoctoral Research Fellow David Thomas at the end of September. After an enjoyable and productive year at Onemda, David has returned home to Darwin, where he will still be part of the CIPHER team based at the Menzies School of Health Research.

In the next few months, David hopes to finish most of the work he began while in Melbourne. The three main projects he has been working on are: describing long-term trends in NT chronic disease death rates, Aboriginal

use of emergency departments, and using the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey to describe Aboriginal ex-smokers and those who have never smoked.

David’s last day in Melbourne was spent at the MCG watching the closest AFL Grand Final in years, and then singing and singing and singing again the Swans’ theme song.

Where you will find us

VicHealth Koori Health UnitCentre for Health and Society Level 4, 207 Bouverie Street The University of Melbourne Vic. 3010 AUSTRALIA

Tel: +61 3 8344 0813

Fax: +61 3 8344 0824

Web: www.chs.unimelb.edu.au/koori

Email: koori@chs.unimelb.edu.au

Melways Map Reference: 2B D8

If you would like to receive our newsletters, and to be informed about workshops, seminars and courses that we run at the Unit, please fill in this form and mail or fax it to the address below. All questions are optional but it would help us to know what aspects of our work you might be most interested in.

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