Namoi Medical Services NAIDOC Week celebration

A successful celebration of cultural awareness and inclusiveness supported by a PHN NAIDOC Week 2022 grant has prompted Namoi Medical Services to think bigger and better for the future.

“For what was a fairly modest celebration marking NAIDOC Week, it’s certainly sparked a keen interest in planning a larger celebration next year,” Practice Manager Patricia Earle said.

“We discussed with some of the elders and patients and about creating a NAIDOC committee that would allow more businesses and community organisations to be able to join in and participate.

“If the new NAIDOC committee is formed based on our ideas and discussions from this event then next year the community as a whole will benefit.”

For 2022, the PHN grant enabled Namoi Health Services to bring patients and medical staff together to acknowledge the significance of NAIDOC Week.

“We decorated the clinic with balloons, inside around the waiting room and outside of the building on our ramp railings. We bought new Indigenous designed mouse pads for our reception desks, and all reception staff and doctors received Indigenous designed polo shirts or ties to wear all week.

“Everyone who attended the clinic was entered into our lucky door prize draw throughout the week as well and every child received colouring in pages with Aboriginal designs to take home with them.”

All Indigenous patients were provided with gift bags and those with a chronic disease also received a healthy cookbook Symply too good to be true the development of which was funded through the PHN NAIDOC Week grant.

On the Wednesday Namoi Medical Services welcomed elders and Aboriginal health workers and nurses from Narrabri Hospital for a light lunch, a celebration cake and the unveiling of new commissioned First Nations artwork that will be hung in the waiting room.

“Our lunch allowed our doctors a chance to socialise with the Aboriginal health workers from the hospital. One of our doctors mentioned that this allowed him to find out about support provided by the hospital for our Indigenous patients with a chronic disease that he was not aware of prior to the event.

“By hosting this event it highlighted to our patients that we support the closing of the gap and that we are committed to providing a culturally safe place for them to receive health care.”

Across the Hunter New England Central Coast PHN over $120,000 in NAIDOC Week grants were delivered to primary care providers including General Practice, Allied Health, Commissioned Service providers as well as Aboriginal Medical Services.