VICDOC Autumn 2025 - Magazine - Page 26
AS A CHILD AND YOUNG PERSON, I LIKED
LEARNING AND LOVED READING, BUT I
DIDN'T LIKE SCHOOL. I MOSTLY FOUND
IT OPPRESSIVE AND UNINTERESTING.
-
When I was 14, I had a year away from
school with my parents and seven siblings
travelling around Europe. That year was
just fantastic for me. After high school I
didn’t like the thought of too many more
years of study, so I did nursing. This was in
the early 80s, and nursing was based on an
apprenticeship model. I was in a big public
hospital, and I liked that environment. I
found that I wanted to know more – how
organs worked and to understand anatomy
and physiology, pathology, pharmacology
and so on. And I noticed and didn't like
how nurses were predominantly female,
and doctors were mostly male, and the
female doctors often had to clean up after
themselves, whereas the men never seemed
to do that. The gender difference was
striking. After 18 months I thought “I don’t
like this, I'm going to do medicine.”
WORKING IN ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES, I
ENJOYED BEING CLOSE TO PEOPLE OF ANCIENT
CULTURE. THERE IS A DIGNITY THAT COMES
WITH STRONG CULTURE AND IDENTITY AND
SO OFTEN OPTIMISM AND HUMOUR.
-
People generally have extensive family
and community connections and have
cultural obligations to many people.
Estrangement and disruption from culture
and community are also part of many
people’s experience, especially because of
the systematic removal of children under
government policy and child protection
practices. Then, there's the fallout of
trauma: anguish and addiction and family
abuse and violence, high rates of children
in child protection, incarceration, and a lot
of illness and premature death. There are
many families where children are raised as a
collective endeavour in a robust and strong
26
AMA VI C TO RIA
way, but there's also the burden of caring
for a lot of people in very stressed families
and communities.
WE KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT WORKS,
OR WHAT COULD WORK IF GOVERNMENTS
AND DECISION MAKERS WOULD ONLY
IMPLEMENT EFFECTIVELY.
-
Appropriate funding for evidence-based
models of services and interventions,
with a strong focus on what supports
people and prevents harm or disease is
needed; for example, culturally informed
family support, rather than massive
tertiary intervention in removing children
and involving child protection services.
There's fantastic work being led by
Aboriginal people that is deeply culturally
and trauma-informed that supports
women in pregnancy and the early years.
It is intergenerationally focused, and
transformative. And, at a very basic level,
we need to address housing and other
social determinants. We see outrageously
high rates of illnesses that would disappear
if people's environmental and living
conditions were improved. For example,
high rates of otitis media in children and
rheumatic heart disease.
CULTURAL SAFETY IN AUSTRALIA HAS BECOME
CODE FOR CULTURAL SAFETY FOR ABORIGINAL
AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE.
-
Of course it’s essential in an Aboriginal
health setting, but I believe that we must
also think of it in a general way. Everyone
needs cultural safety. Culture is a part of
identity; who a person is. The way I translate
it in my thinking and teaching is that all
people need to feel like themselves in their
experience of healthcare. They need to feel
welcome, to feel entitled in a good way, to
feel involved in their own healthcare, and to
not feel threatened, disrespected or excluded.
The aim of a clinician and a health service
