Mrs Natasha Hegarty1, Ms Danielle Thorne1
1KAMS, Broome, Australia
The delivery of health and wellbeing services to Kimberley Aboriginal communities is a very personal thing for us because we’re delivering services and programs to our families, extended families and our old people.
Kimberley Aboriginal people face significant health and wellbeing challenges along with significant challenges in remote service delivery. It is critical that we improve outcomes by increasing access and quality of primary healthcare.
KAMS and our members services across the Kimberley region operate a network of primary healthcare services provided under a unifying Model of Care which outlines a framework for the delivery of comprehensive and culturally-safe health and wellbeing services to Kimberley Aboriginal people, families and communities.
The Model represents a holistic, strengths-based approach to primary health care service delivery and upholds the principles of Aboriginal community control, self-determination, person centred and place-based care.
The strength of the Model is that it was developed by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people.
The Model of Care is underpinned by eight fundamental dimensions that are needed for Kimberley Aboriginal people to have good physical, emotional and spiritual health – our connection to Land, Lore, Language, Family and Community.
This presentation will illustrate the importance of the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health sector as a critical element of the primary health architecture in the Kimberley region. It will also demonstrate how the work in Kimberley Aboriginal communities aligns with the Priority Reforms as set out in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and provide examples of how these levers of change work to improve health outcomes in Kimberley Aboriginal communities.
Biography:
Danielle is a Yawuru woman from Broome who has worked at the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service (KAMS) for more than 11 years. Danielle oversees the operations of all five KAMS remotes clinics. She is deeply committed to improving access to culturally-safe primary healthcare to Aboriginal people in the Kimberley.
Natasha is the Executive Manager for Remote Services at KAMS. Natasha has strategic oversight of the delivery of primary healthcare in the five remote Aboriginal communities and as such, is an agent of change in aligning the Aboriginal Community Controlled services (ACCHS) Model of Care to remote healthcare service delivery.