Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Education Group works in unison with MCCC’s Cultural Educators (CE) and Cultural Mentors (CM) to establish a syllabus for registrars, offer support and guidance to registrars working within posts, develop exam support resources for use by registrars and ensure integration of the Aboriginal Health syllabus to ensure consistency across MCCC and alignment with both College curricula.
We value our relationships with Aboriginal health organisations and aim to work closely with these partners to develop and deliver meaningful initiatives that improve primary healthcare outcomes for local Aboriginal communities. MCCC continues to prioritise delivery of its strategic plan for Aboriginal health.
We have established partnerships with a number of stakeholders in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, including: Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) and Aboriginal communities within the training footprint, which include Elders, Cultural Educators and Mentors.
Our own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Advisory Committee (AHAC) provides advice and input to our strategic plan. The AHAC group includes ACCHO representatives and community and meets quarterly.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) recently produced a podcast, ‘Taking Care’, which features our own Dr Ed Poliness, GP supervisor at Wathaurong Aboriginal Cooperative, Geelong.
Ed discusses culturally appropriate treatment within the context of family and community with other prominent health practitioners, around the broader discussion of connections and acknowledgement of the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners in our healthcare system.
95 per cent of our operations and medical education team have attended cultural awareness training offered across our five locations. This training is also incorporated into registrar workshops. Our medical educators and supervisors have been and will continue to be offered opportunities to attend cultural safety/cultural awareness training.
All staff, GP trainees, supervisors and medical educators have the opportunity to attend ‘Culcha Camps’. The has proven to be an immensely invaluable cultural learning experience. (See Culcha Camp tab).
Some of our key priorities for the future include:
On Remembrance Day, we acknowledge the profound contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have made through military service for Australia.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served in large numbers in every conflict since Australia’s Federation in 1901 and some signed up to colonial forces before this.
A strong motivator for many to join up was the promise of fair treatment and equality whilst in the armed forces. To see our tribute in full click here.