Organisation: Hunter New England Health Service
Job Title: Aboriginal Health Coordinator
Location: Newcastle
This is an identified Aboriginal Position. Applicants must be of Aboriginal descent. Exemption is claimed under Section 14d of the Anti Discrimination Act 1977
I am an Aboriginal woman born in Cherbourg Aboriginal Community in Queensland, a descendant of Kuku Yalanji, Goa and Kulilli tribes. For the past eight years I have worked in the Awabakal and Wonarua communities in Aboriginal identified roles
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 effectively with internal and external stakeholders
Through my education, extensive experience and knowledge of Aboriginal health, I possess a high level of knowledge and understanding of the many health issues relating to Aboriginal people. I understand the issues faced by previous generations, from the impact of colonialism, and 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 a significant impact on their health. Aboriginal people have a life expectancy of ten to fifteen years less than 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 and 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 the challenges they face. This 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 in providing quality health outcomes for Aboriginal people within the community. They are addressing the health issues of the community and have a strong connection with local Aboriginal people to integrate and coordinate the 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 the 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.
I grew up across a range of Aboriginal communities and have had experience in providing services to many of these areas. It provides me with a strong platform 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 it’s important that all key Aboriginal community partners are consulted, advice is sought and included within the 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 communities, government organisations and other services within Hunter New England Health. My role is to provide a holistic health approach to ensure that programs and services developed and delivered are in line with and address Aboriginal community and program needs. This shows my ability to communicate, consult and negotiate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
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
I have a proven work history of working independently and delivering results by improving productivity and effectiveness. This is through my ability to manage time and tasks well, deal with problems and solve quickly as they arise, and exercise strong initiative and judgement. Across the roles I have held within Hunter New England Health I have been required to work on specialised, initiative based programs for Aboriginal people across the Hunter region. As these programs and services have been initiatives, the majority of my time has required me to work independently and with a high level of initiative.
In commencing my role at Adamstown as Health Education Officer with the Connecting Care Service I was able to analyse the way in which my role was carried out. From my analysis, I then was able to develop, implement and roll out new procedures dealing with client management and reporting. From me making these changes it increased the effectiveness and productivity of the role significantly. So much so 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. This helped to provide a holistic approach, therefore increasing the client outcomes in a range of programs. It also 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 allowed me to also implement contingency plans and carry out a range of problem solving activities including additional follow ups, client care, internal agency reporting and staff training and development. As a result of me creating and implementing all of these new changes and procedures, I managed to increase its clients and service range by 300%.
This example shows I can deliver results by improving productivity and effectiveness through my use of showing initiative, analysis and problem solving.
Proven staff management experience, including ability to maintain a positive workplace culture and articulate and achieve a vision for Aboriginal Health services
Throughout my work history, I have been involved in many aspects of management. This includes managing myself, the programs I have created, my clients, or the relationships I have harnessed with Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal organisations, that I have been working with. All of these require a level of people management. Along with this, I also need to ensure that I maintain a positive workplace culture and articulate and achieve a vision for Aboriginal Health Services. Being the bridge between Aboriginal Communities and Health Services, It is very important that I articulate the right message.
Throughout my work history I have been required to coordinate a wide range of programs and services ranging from small scale to a larger regional scale. As a result of managing these programs and services, it was a requirement that I selected a team of employees for each program relevant to their positions. That I developed a program strategy including key milestones, actions, personnel required and 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, to 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 I held regular staff meetings to ensure that the progress was on track, there was a consistency of communication and a positive staff culture was maintained. It was my responsibility to ensure all staff was 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 have required me to manage many facets. These include; budgets, allocation of duties for staff, monitoring staff and program duties and outcomes. I also needed to 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.
Although I have not directly held a management position throughout my career, these experiences have proven that I can manage staff effectively to create a positive workplace culture, all whilst achieving a vision for Aboriginal health services.
Working knowledge and understanding of current Federal and State Aboriginal Health policies, directives and strategies that impact upon Aboriginal Communities
I possess a strong working knowledge and understanding of many of the federal and state Aboriginal health policies, directives and strategies that impact upon Aboriginal communities. This has been learnt 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 carry out strategic initiatives from the State Government to close the gap between Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people.
There is a number of NSW State plans that have been developed, released and implemented that will continue to have a challenging and positive impact on many Aboriginal communities. The State Government through the NSW Ministry of Health released the NSW State Health plan “Towards 2021”. This details twenty-one plans that have been released to address a range of health needs. The most relevant of these to Aboriginal people being the NSW Aboriginal health plan 2013 – 2023.
The NSW Aboriginal Health Plan 2013-2023 was released in partnership with the 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. The main goal of this plan is to work in partnership with Aboriginal people to achieve a high level of health. This 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 working strongly across a range of these strategic directions and actions. They also continue to elaborate and grow across many initiatives in partnership with the Aboriginal community. My working knowledge of these Federal and state directives and strategies continues to grow as I continue my career with Hunter New England Health.
Willingness and demonstrated ability to provide cultural advice to mainstream units with the aim of increasing appropriateness and effectiveness of service strategies for the Aboriginal population
Being an Aboriginal woman, growing up in an Aboriginal community, I understand the importance of providing cultural advice to mainstream units, to assist them in creating more appropriate and effective service strategies for the 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. There have been many times when integrating mainstream services into Aboriginal communities, have raised the need for cultural support mechanisms to be provided to the mainstream units. Because of this, I have been able to draw upon my own life experiences, skills and detailed knowledge to provide guidance, support, training and Aboriginal cultural and history education to a wide range of workers and programs. By me doing this, it has helped the mainstream units to increase their knowledge and understanding of the most appropriate methods to provide services to Aboriginal people, in a way that will be most effective.
It is critical that Aboriginal people are provided a culturally appropriate service to address their health needs. Equally it is critical that the mainstream units, are equipped with the correct and appropriate knowledge and skills, to be able to engage and provide the right services to the Aboriginal community. By doing this it ensures that the Aboriginal community is comfortable with services that they are being provided. It means that they are having their cultural and health needs met. This in turn has been proven to show that Aboriginal communities will then continue to engage in these services.
This is something that I am very passionate about, and really enjoy and thrive being a part of this process. It is so critical that we get this right and continue to bridge the gap in a positive and effective way. By doing so, we start to create more appropriate service strategies for the Aboriginal community which will in turn have a positive impact on the health and wellbeing of these communities. You can see from the above that I have a great willingness and demonstrated ability in providing such advice.
Demonstrated ability to manage change and coach and mentor others to effectively adapt to ongoing change and maximise their potential whilst achieving organisational objectives
Throughout my positions working in Health Education, I have needed to show that I can manage change along with coaching and mentoring of others. I have needed to lead by example to show others how to adapt to ongoing change, in order to maximise individual potentials and to assist the organisation achieve its objectives.
In my current and previous role with Hunter New England Health I have implemented a wide variety of new programs and services, broadening the service regions and developing and implementing 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.
Whilst in my position at Adamstown, I was able to develop new procedure manuals. This entailed integrating other staff and programs into the service so as to implement new cultural procedures. In order to implement this in the most seamless way, I organised to provide training, coaching and mentoring to all of the staff and managers. The reason I chose to do this was to ensure that all staff knew the changes that were being implemented in the program and clearly understood. By doing this, it allowed them to be adopted and for any feedback to be provided for any changes. It also allowed for a progressive implementation plan to be put in place. Professional development of staff and managers was provided as well as cultural guidance. This ensured that the program that was integrated provided a culturally appropriate service.
You can see from these two examples, that I have shown a demonstrated ability to manage change and coach and mentor others, so that individual and organisational objectives were met. Change can be met with resistance. It is very important when doing this that it is conducted in the right way and is sensitive to both the individual and the organisational objectives. In my experience, by dealing with it from this approach, has always resulted in a more positive outcome for all involved.
Highly developed skills and experience in strategic and operational planning, management, and evaluation of a service delivery program including effective leadership skills
I possess a high level of strategic planning, program service delivery and operational management skills. This has been proven through the coordination of management of programs within the Hunter New England health service. My current position as Aboriginal Health Education Officer has required me to develop strategic and operational plans in order to carry out the programs and services required to ensure successful service delivery.
Within my current role, the major program that I am required to manage is an Aboriginal health mobile kitchen program. This program has required me to develop and implement strategic plans for staff, which included dieticians and health workers. I have also needed to develop and implement strategies around 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, the community and other organisations. With successful plans being developed and implemented, in consultation with other personnel, we have seen the program be successfully launched. We have had a great success rate with attendance to date. Due to this success, we are now seeing demands for this program to be expanded into other regions. This is something that I am very proud of and excited for. I have been able to draw upon my studies in Certificate III in Fitness that I completed this year, to help with the success of this program. I plan to utilise these new skills and knowledge I have required. It helps me to further benefit not only this program, but also others that are rolled out. This also allows me to give a higher level of knowledge and advice when such programs are being discussed for implementation.
It has been critical that strategic plans, including contingency planning, have been put in place. Not only for the large programs such as the mobile cooking program, but also for the operational management of other requirements of the role. With the objective being to ensure that a holistic health approach is provided to Aboriginal people within the region
These examples show my highly developed skills and experience, along with my willingness to continue to build on my strategic and operational planning, management and evaluation of a service delivery program
Proven 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
Whilst a large portion of my work and role is out in the field and dealing with the community and organisations face to face, I consistently need to use computers as a business tool to allow me to competently complete my job. Ways in which I use computers as a business tool are outlined below:
In my current role as Aboriginal Health officer with Hunter New England health service, one way in which computers are used as a business tool is when I am facilitating the deadly cooking program. This program is about healthy eating, cooking and ways to help the Aboriginal community eat better for their health. In this program I assist clients in managing a budget for food shopping and on healthy eating alternatives. This is by way of using spreadsheets and various programs to help the clients determine their budget and also to consider healthy eating alternatives.
Every month it is a requirement for me to provide monthly reports to the ICCAP Coordinator. It is my responsibility to provide updates, on any progress and developments within the programs I am managing. Also I need to report on any other initiatives, or general developments and information they require.
Throughout my day-to-day duties in my current role, I utilise the Hunter New England computer systems. These systems include CHIME (confidentiality and information management), Outlook, IPM (Patient registration) and CAP (Conditional Adjustment Payment).
When I was working at Jundah Women’s Shelter as a Support Worker, I assisted the young women who had been affected by sexual or domestic violence with budgeting skills. I relied on computers and IT programs for this and it greatly assisted me in helping these young women.
As you can see from the above, computers and IT play a large part in my day-to-day dealings. Whether it’s being able to execute parts of my programs effectively, be able to produce the required reports each month, or assist my clients with certain needs, I rely on my ability to use computers to assist in managing, doing budgets, projects and health education activities.
