Staff at the Werribee and Hoppers Crossing healthcare group MyClinic are campaigning to bridge the gap in health services that leads to poor health and lower life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The team has joined with the Melbourne Primary Care Network in helping to close the gap.
Ron Hanniver, an indigenous health officer for the network’s north-western region, said the Closing the Gap program would address the discrepancies in life expectancy and health among Indigenous communities.
“In my role, I find that people are often not identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander because of issues from the past,” he said.
“They’re too scared to come forward … past experiences are still quite raw.”
Mr Hanniver said there were too few appropriate services in the Wyndham area, so the MyClinic campaign was a step forward.
“It’s disgraceful to think that in a rich country like Australia this is still happening,” he said.
Alexandra Rojas, of the Primary Care Network, said many Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders suffered from chronic illness.
“It’s difficult for them to get to medical health services, trust health specialists or even navigate the health services,” she said. “We need more culturally appropriate services like this where they can be made to feel comfortable. Aboriginal health is everyone’s business.”
