Werribee Mercy Hospital marked NAIDOC week with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony last week.
On Tuesday, July 9, Wurundjeri elder Aunty Di Kerr told a group assembled outside the hospital’s learning precinct that health was a critical and concerning area for indigenous people, although the topic could be frightening for indigenous people.
Standing in front of the smoking leaves, a ceremony which she said which dated back 60,000 years, Aunty Di said Aboriginal people “assembled now in unity”.
“We are still losing too many of our young people to suicide,” she said.
“Many people (non-indigenous) have not always understood what our journey is about but we speak with one voice.
“The journey is to eradicate racism and stigma.”
Aunty Di said Melbourne had become a big multicultural city and all communities needed to strive to share and understand each other.
Mercy Health program director of ambulatory, community and allied health services, Erin Wilson, said Aunty Di was a respected supporter of Werribee Mercy.
Ms Wilson said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health was a priority at Mercy Health.
She said Mercy was proud to be rolling out a third iteration of an Aboriginal employment plan “which demonstrates our on-going commitment to indigenous employment”.
Ms Wilson said that across the past 12 months, the maternity wards of the Mercy Hospital for Women in Heidelberg and Werribee Mercy had seen the arrival of 120 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies.
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