The introduction of culturally appropriate health services is highlighted as one of the best ways to improve the health of indigenous Australians. It's an approach that's been adopted by a clinic in regional South Australia, under a model it's hoped can be used at other health services elsewhere.
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00:00Cheryl Giles used to visit her GP just once every two years to manage her diabetes.
00:08A lack of culturally sensitive healthcare was the driving factor.
00:12In a general service, you'd get a different doctor, you'd have to tell your story again.
00:18And who wants to repeat their health story?
00:22But thanks to changes made at a local clinic by an experienced Indigenous nurse,
00:27she now visits her doctor every two months.
00:30A lot of the things I was seeing in the hospital systems and all of that wasn't great.
00:35So that kind of inspired me to do something better here.
00:39This year's Closing the Gap data shows the lives of First Nations people
00:43are estimated to be eight years shorter than other Australians.
00:47We're friends all the time and there's heaps of grief come from that.
00:52If we can just put a couple of things in place to prevent a lot of that,
00:56then it really can make a huge difference.
00:58Since Darrell Barnes started at this clinic,
01:00the number of services available to First Nations people have increased by 30%.
01:05His self-described takeaway menu of healthcare options
01:08includes physiotherapy, podiatry and rehabilitation.
01:12From the very start, every single clinic we have
01:15is because of the Riverland Aboriginal community has asked for it.
01:19They're already putting a cultural lens from the inside out
01:23instead of trying to get it from the outside in.
01:26A model fit to be replicated across the state.
01:29Whatever we can learn from and take,
01:31we would love to do that across each of the different areas that we provide service
01:35and would love to be able to share that with other communities.
01:38Closing the Gap, one appointment at a time.