For years, Awal Medical Centre has been a trusted general practice for the people of Sarina.

With the help of Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN), Awal Medical Centre was selected for a $300,000 Federal Government grant to enable the practice to provide additional infrastructure and appropriate space to enable rural and regional health practitioners to maintain and increase the level of services locally.

Dr Rajendra Awal, GP at Awal Medical Centre, said that with the help of the grant, they plan to make much-needed additions to the clinic to benefit the community and healthcare professionals.

“An additional three consultation rooms will be built, which will help in having the ability to continue to recruit registrars for training, and medical students will be able to receive adequate training from the supervisors as well,” Dr Awal said.

“Also planned for the practice is a dedicated training room with computers and projectors to provide teaching and training opportunities for a range of health professionals and students within the practice.

“Last but not least, an extended waiting room will be constructed which will be able to double after-hours as a conference room to help educate and promote health literacy within the community.”

Director and Practice Manager Yogita Awal personally thanked NQPHN for its assistance in the grant application process.

“I would like to thank NQPHN all for the support they gave us, and for providing a letter of support for the application as well,” she said.

Soft drinks are contributing significantly to increasing weight and chronic disease problems among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Cape York.

High consumption of sugary drinks is associated with a number of health problems, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and dental caries.

In 2016-17, Apunipima Cape York Health Council, the community controlled primary health care service provider in Cape York, shared some feedback with Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) which arose from consultations with community members who highlighted a need to raise awareness around the poor health outcomes associated with consumption of sugary drinks.

This was particularly highlighted by Elders and school teachers, who had witnessed first-hand the amount of sugary drinks being consumed by community members, particularly young people.

NQPHN responded by provided funding to assist Apunipima to tackle the issue and deliver the Healthy Communities Project, designed to engage Aboriginal Shire Councils and local decision makers in creating supportive environments for health and wellbeing, with a focus on healthy drink and smoke-free environments.

“The project aims to address the high rates of sugary drink consumption by increasing awareness about negative health effects of sugary drinks, decreasing exposure to sugary drinks by modifying the availability, and increasing availability of and promotion of water as an alternative healthy choice,” said Barb Smith, NQPHN Heath Promotion Lead.

“A large focus of the project is working closely with Aboriginal Shire Councils to ensure sustainable strategies to reduce sugary drinks are developed and implemented that are truly driven and owned by the community.”

The project is a multi-phase initiative incorporating social marketing, community-driven decision making, and implementation of supportive environment strategies within communities.

The project is being piloted across three remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Cape York (Mapoon, Napranum and Wujal Wujal) until early 2018.

The project also aims to minimise the harms caused by tobacco smoke through creating and strengthening smoke free spaces, events and policies. These activities complement the National Tackling Indigenous Smoking programme and Don’t Make Smokes Your Story campaign work that Apunipima is also delivering across Cape York.

This project has strong community support and during consultations an Elder was quoted as saying “We need to be a strong community. No sugary drinks and no smoking.”

A key component is the locally-tailored social marketing campaign, “Sugary Drinks Proper No Good – Drink More Water Youfla”, which aims to help children, young people and adults become more aware of the poor health outcomes associated with consumption of sugary drinks. The campaign also aims to encourage community members to make a change, and choose water over sugary drinks. This will complement the National Rethink Sugary Drink campaign.

Learnings from engaging Aboriginal Shire Councils and local decision-makers in the health sector will also be documented as part of this project.  These learnings will assist other remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in facilitating their own community-led actions to help create supportive environments for health.

Final results from the project will be disseminated in late 2018.

Sue Gibuma grew up in the Torres Strait and always had an interest in health care and the ambition to make a difference in her community. Sue is one of the first graduates of the Certificate IV in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care (Practice) through TAFE Queensland North, fully-subsidised by Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) and Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service.

As a further boost and to further assist successful applicants, NQPHN provided laptops to those students fulfilling criteria relating to remote residence and lack of computer/IT access.

This qualification will enable Sue to be employed in a variety of settings, such as in General Practice and Aboriginal Medical Services, and she is also now eligible for national registration with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia.

“I was first interested in the course to be able to receive my Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration,” Sue said.

Since completing the course, Sue has started in a role in remote primary health care as an Indigenous Women’s Health Worker, which enables her to work across all program areas such as women’s health, chronic care, acute care, emergency care, and anything the community presents with in a remote primary health care setting.

“Sometimes it can be a bit discouraging as you need to be very strong to deal with all the challenges you face working in community health, but while completing this course I have felt very supported,” Sue said.

Sue is currently thoroughly enjoying working and continuing her learning at the Horn Island Primary Health Care Centre.

Sandra Oui, is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community member, who was born and still resides in Townsville working for the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Women as an Aged Care Coordinator.

Sandra first came in to contact with My Health Record at her local hospital, when it was known as the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR).

Her husband has multiple chronic health conditions, and on one of their many visits to hospital, it was recommended that they register for a digital health record.

“We often have to repeat my husband’s medical history and medications, so to have a summary of his health on the computer that his treating healthcare providers could access 24/7 was a no-brainer for me, and we signed up on the spot,” said Sandra.

“It saves us time by not having to repeat information, and he can receive better care from his providers as they are able to make more informed decisions.

“Plus the bonus of having both our medical history follow us wherever we go was another reason I signed us up.”

Sandra was keen to promote this important form of information sharing with local residents, so at the next community event for her organisation, she invited the Northern Queensland Primary Health Network digital health team to come along and talk about My Health Record.

Renata Danisevska, Digital Health Regional Coordinator, welcomed the opportunity to chat to residents about how My Health Record could benefit them to manage their health better, and answer any queries people they had.

“It is also important to support people like Sandra, who are known in their community and willing to share their personal story,” said Renata.

“People like to hear from people they know. It makes it more relatable and brings to life the words on an information fact sheet.”

Sandra could not agree more, “I’m always chatting to people about My Health Record. A lot of our clients are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, and when they hear my story and how it works for me, they can easily see how it can support them as well,” she said.

“Everyone needs to get involved. People need to ask their GPs to upload a health summary to their record, and GPs should make uploading a health summary for their patients’ part of their everyday business.

“Our health is our first and foremost priority”.