Job Title: Aboriginal Health Coordinator
Demonstrated high level knowledge and understanding of health issues relating to Aboriginal people and communities including the role of Aboriginal community controlled organisations including good interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to communicate, consult and negotiate with internal and external stakeholders.
Through my education, extensive experience and knowledge within Aboriginal health I possess a high level of knowledge and understanding of the many issues relating to Aboriginal people from previous generations from the impact of colonialism, present and future generations of Aboriginal people. As a result of severe cultural, society and lifestyle changes Aboriginal people face many health issues that have significant impact on their health including having a life expectancy 10 to 15 years less the non-Indigenous Australians. These significant impacts have resulted in Aboriginal people facing many lifestyle and health issues and challenges including:
- Drug and alcohol
- Mental health
- Cardiovascular disease – heart, stroke, blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Social and emotional wellbeing
- Kidney disease
- Respiratory health
- Eye health – infectious disease, diabetic retinopathy
- Ear health – also has additional effects on educational outcomes
There are various other health issues that impact Aboriginal people that vary depending on the specific Aboriginal community and challenges they face there demonstrates the importance of Aboriginal community controlled organisations that are on the ground, within the community and controlled by the community. These organisations are vital into providing quality health outcomes for Aboriginal people within the community with many of the professionals within the organisation growing up within the community, facing the health issues themselves, are addressing the health issues of the community and have a strong connection with local Aboriginal people to integrate and coordinate service for Aboriginal people as well as provide advice on what issues require addressing possibly through partnership. It is key as per my experience and skills that a high level of interpersonal communications skills are held when dealing with Aboriginal community as many communities may be withheld or cautious of outside services working within the community due a range of reasons and past experiences.
In growing up across a range of Aboriginal communities and experiencing and providing services to many of these areas it provides a strong platform for me to be able to consult and negotiate with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure Aboriginal programs, services and health issues are addressed. Without a strong communication strategy it can place all programs and services at risk therefore important that all key Aboriginal community partners are consulted, advice sought and included within service delivery. Throughout my roles within Hunter New England Health I have been required to liaise with Aboriginal Land Councils, Aboriginal community health controlled organisations, department of education, mainstream health services, specialist practitioners, Aboriginal community, government organisation, other services within Hunter New England Health to provide a holistic health approach and many more to ensure that programs and services developed and delivered are in line with and address Aboriginal community and program needs.
Proven capacity to work independently, deliver results, by improving productivity and effectiveness to customers including the ability to display sound time management skills, analyse and solve problems, and exercise initiative judgement and discretion.
Across the roles I have held within Hunter New England Health I have been required to work on specialised, imitative based programs for Aboriginal people across the Hunter region. With this roles, programs and services being an initiative the majority of my time required me to work independently and with a high level of initiative.
In commencing within my role at Adamstown as Health Education Officer with the Connecting Care Service I was able to analyse the way in which role was carried out, develop and implement new procedures of client management and reporting that increased the effectiveness and productivity of the role significantly that another 3 regions – Greater Newcastle Cluster, Lower & Upper Hunter Valley Cluster and Lower Mid Coast Cluster were added to the role to manage. Through the continuation of analysing the role, client numbers and success this allowed me to put in place partnerships, new procedures and contingency plans that involved an integration of a range of Hunter New England services to provide a holistic approach therefore increasing client outcomes in a range of programs, increased referrals and partnerships that allowed clients to access a broader range of services quickly for a rapid health recovery. Throughout implementing new procedures and partnership this required me to implement contingency plans and carry out a range of problem solving including additional follow up, client care, internal agency reporting and staff training and development. As a result of this development the role management to increase its clients and service range by 300%.
Proven staff management experience, including ability to maintain a positive workplace culture and articulate and achieve a vision for Aboriginal Health services.
Although I have not directly held a management position throughout my career the requirements within the roles I have held have provided me with similar and relevant experience in management of employee duties. Within my experience I have been required to coordinate a wide range of programs and services ranging from a small to regional scale. As a result of these requirements of my role it was a requirement that I selected a team of employees for the program relevant to their positions, developed a program strategy including key milestones, actions, personnel required, budgets to ensure the program had sufficient planning in place for success. In order to develop and implement the plan I was required to liaise with staff to ensure quality targets were in place, allocate duties and timeframes for staff to carry out, monitor progress of staff actions, provide support and guidance to staff, implement contingence plans and manage program budgets.
Throughout this time it was critical that held regular staff meetings to ensure the progress was on track, consistency of communication, a positive culture was maintained, staff were supported and the vision and goals for the Aboriginal health programs maintained a focus and were achieved.
In addition to this I am also responsible for the management of the Aboriginal Walkabout health mobile kitchen in the upper Hunter region. The development, implementation and coordination of this program has required me to manage budgets, allocate duties for staff, monitor staff and program duties and outcomes, develop program strategies and contingency plans, develop partnerships with Aboriginal community members and organisations, build partnerships with other health service programs and workplace health and safety requirements.
Working knowledge and understanding of federal and state Aboriginal health policies, directives and strategies that impact upon Aboriginal communities.
I possess strong working knowledge and understanding of many of the federal and state Aboriginal health policies, directives and strategies that impact upon Aboriginal communities through carrying out my role within Aboriginal health I have been required to understand the health issues of Aboriginal people, implement strategies that address community needs and carryout strategic initiatives from State Government to close the gap between Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people.
There are a number of NSW State plans that have been developed, released and implemented that will continue to have a challenge and positive impact on many Aboriginal communities. The State Government through the NSW Ministry of Health released the NSW State Health plan “Towards 2021” that indicates 21 plans that have been released to address a range of health needs the most relevant to Aboriginal people being the NSW Aboriginal health plan 2013 – 2023.
The NSW Aboriginal Health Plan 2013-2023 was released in partnership with Aboriginal health and medical research council of NSW with the aim of building respectful, trusting and effective partnerships that would play a major role in closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people.
With the main gaol of this plan to work in partnership with Aboriginal people to achieve high level of health indicates the importance of working with Aboriginal community, Aboriginal community controlled organisations as well a wide range of mainstream stakeholders and health service programs.
The health strategic directions and action are those that look to provide a holistic health approach to Aboriginal people through social, economic and wellbeing. The key strategic directions that will play a major role in improving the health of Aboriginal people and communities include:
- Building trust through partnership
- Implementing what works and building the evidence
- Ensuring integrating planning and service delivery
- Strengthening the Aboriginal Workforce
- Providing culturally safe work environments and health services
- Strengthening performance monitoring, management and accountability
Throughout my experience at Hunter New England Health there are a large range of programs and service that are strongly working across a range of these strategic directions/action and continue to elaborate and grown across many initiatives in partnership with Aboriginal community.
Willingness and demonstrated ability to provide cultural advice to mainstream units with the aim of increasing appropriateness and effectiveness of service strategies for Aboriginal population
Over the course of my career I have held various positions that aim to increase the health, safety and wellbeing for Aboriginal people. As a result of this goal it is critical that a holistic approach is provided to Aboriginal communities to allow for a range of needs to be addressed with a high demand. Many time integrating mainstream services into Aboriginal communities raises the need for cultural support mechanisms to be provided to mainstream units. As a result I have been able to provide guidance, support, training and Aboriginal cultural and history education to a wide range of workers and programs to increase knowledge, understanding and the most appropriate method to provide services to Aboriginal people that will be effective.
It is critical that not only Aboriginal people are provided a culturally appropriate service to address health needs but also that the mainstream units are equipped with the knowledge and skills to be able to engage and provide services to the Aboriginal community that will ensure that the community are comfortable with services provided, that they meet cultural and health needs and that Aboriginal community continue to engage in services provided.
Demonstrated ability to manage change and coach and mentor others to effectively adapt to ongoing change and maximise their potential whilst achieving organisational objectives
In my current and previous role with Hunter New England Health I have implemented a wide variety of new programs and service, broadening the service regions and develop and implement new policies and procedures. As a result of implementing programs and policies I have been required to manage change as well as coach and mentor others including senior employees on program changes, new policy and procedures and cultural protocols.
Within my position at Adamstown I was able to developing new procedure manuals, integrating other staff and programs into the service and implement new cultural procedures. As a result of this I was required to provide training, coaching and mentoring to staff and managers to ensure that the changes implemented in the program were aware by all staff to allow them to be adopted, for feedback to be provided for any changes, for a progressive implementation plan to be implemented, professional development of staff included and managers as well a cultural guidance to ensure the program and others integrated provide a culturally appropriate service.
Highly developed skills and experience in strategic and operational planning, management and evaluation of service delivery program including effective leaderships skills
I possess a high level of strategic planning, program service delivery and operational management through the coordination of management programs within Hunter New England health. The requirements of my current position of Aboriginal Health Education Officer I am required to develop strategic and operational plans to carry out the programs and services required to ensure successful service delivery.
Within my current role the major program I am required to manage an Aboriginal health mobile kitchen program which has required me to develop and implement strategic plans for staff (dieticians and health workers), catering, participants, recruitment strategies, marketing strategies, contingency planning and program expansion planning.
This has required me to show a high level of leadership in providing direction and guidance to many health professionals, community and other organisations. With successful plans developed and implement with the consultation of other personnel it has enabled the program to be successfully launched with a successful attendance as well as not only regular and successful use of programs but also additional demands for the program to expand in other regions.
It has been critical that strategic plans including contingency planning has been put in place for not only large programs such as the mobile cooking program but also for the operational management of other requirements of the role to ensure that a holistic health approach is provide to Aboriginal people within the region.
Poven record of achievement in managing, budgets, projects, health education activities competency in the use of computers as a business tool and ability in producing high level reports and briefings
- Assisting clients to manage a budget on food shopping on healthy eating alternatives with the deadly cooking program in my current role as Aboriginal Health Officer
- Assisting young women in lifestyle budgeting as Social worker at Jundah women’s shelter
- Provide monthly reports to the ICCAP co-ordinator on a monthly basis on the progress and any developments
- I utilizes the HNE computer systems on a daily basis – CHIME, outlook, IPM, CAP
