Bilateral Agreement

In the year under review the State and Commonwealth Governments signed an historic agreement which will lead to significant improvements in the planning and delivery of Aboriginal health services.

The agreement aims to eliminate gaps in the planning and duplication of service delivery and clearly identify the respective roles of the State and Commonwealth Governments and community health interests.

The agreement will establish a State forum involving the Western Australian Aboriginal Controlled Health Organisation, the Health Department’s Office of Aboriginal Health, ATSIC and the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Divisions and will provide for transparent reporting to the Parliament of Aboriginal health funding, activity and outcomes.

National Performance Indicators

In February 1996, the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) instructed the Heads of Aboriginal Health Units (HAHU) to develop national performance indicators to monitor the key factors influencing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health.

Draft performance indicators were developed by HAHU and refined through a consensus meeting held in Perth in February 1997. This consensus meeting brought together key stakeholders in Aboriginal health including, Commonwealth, States, Territories, the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and others. The recommendations resulting from this meeting were agreed to by AHMAC and the Performance Indicators were endorsed by Australian Health Ministers.

Cross Cultural Education

The Office of Aboriginal Health contracted Aboriginal consultants to provide cross cultural training to 2,600 health workers, including those working in the allied health industry.

The course aimed to underpin the knowledge, skills and attitudes for Health Department employees to develop cultural understanding and to improve inter-cultural relationships within the department through knowledge and awareness of race relations and communications.

Coordinated Care Trial

This new national initiative was developed to improve the way health care services are delivered to Aboriginal people and to encourage the variety of health providers to work together to achieve that aim.

A unique partnership between the Office of Aboriginal Health and four Western Australian agencies - the Perth Aboriginal Medical Service, the South West Aboriginal Medical Corporation, Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service and the Mawarnkarra Health Service in Roebourne - are among the 12 national participants in the program.

The trial assumes that improvements in Aboriginal health can be achieved and enhanced by: a better understanding of the state of Aboriginal health; better use of existing resources; culturally appropriate health care services and strategies; and an improvement in environmental health factors.

The trial will target:

• children aged under five years;
• antenatal and postnatal care;
• home and community care clients and their partners;
• clients with chronic diseases;
• children aged between 15 and 40; and
• school children from Gnangara, Lockridge and Gulunga with ear disease.

More than 3,500 Aboriginal people have enrolled in this innovative project.

Aboriginal Family Futures Program

Aboriginal communities in four corners of the State took part in an innovative health strategy targeting extended families. The Family Futures project was developed by the Office of Aboriginal Health to give Aboriginal people culturally appropriate, holistic health programs. The key to the program included the assignment of Aboriginal health workers to extended Aboriginal families, looking particularly at milestone or sentinel health events such as pregnancy and newborn, pre-schoolers and young adults at risk.

The Family Futures Program established a number of significant reforms in Aboriginal Health including:

• expanding the number of Aboriginal workers in Western Australia;
• establishing partnerships between mainstream providers and Aboriginal community health interests;
• the striking of partnerships between mainstream providers and Aboriginal community health interests;
• elevating Aboriginal families as the focus of health reform;
• adopting a holistic approach to Aboriginal health; and
• expanding the monitoring of Aboriginal health.

Partnership With WAACCHO

The signing of a Bilateral agreement on Aboriginal health between the Western Australian Minister for Health and the Western Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (WAACCHO), effective until 30 June 1999, ensures that the community controlled sector has a guaranteed role in future planning and data collection by the Health Department. Additionally the agreement provides for Collaboration between Government sectors and an independent and viable WAACCHO.

Aboriginal Health Promotion Units

The Department provided funding to Aboriginal Medical Services in the state to provide various health promotion projects including:

• heart health;
• nutrition;
• maternal and childhealth programs;
• women’s health;
• road safety;
• AIDS/HIV; and
• alcohol.

This network of community controlled health promotion units is unique to WA and provides a critical link in the provision of health, education and family development services in Aboriginal communities.

Heart Health

More than 1000 Aboriginal people throughout Western Australia have been screened as part of a major health initiative designed to raise community awareness of heart-related ill-health and prevent premature deaths. These people have received appropriate treatment for their heart conditions or been educated about the danger of heart disease through Aboriginal Medical Services in Perth, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton and Roebourne. The program aims to:

• identify risk actors of the Aboriginal population;
• establish services to reduce those risk factors; and
• monitor the heart health of Aboriginal people in the highest risk category.

People with elevated risks are assigned to a program that:

• monitors personal risk;
• educates the family;
• skills a family member in CPR; and
• establishes a health care plan for the individual that addresses the high risk factors.

St John Ambulance First Aid Training

During the year the Office of Aboriginal Health contracted St John Ambulance to train Aboriginal communities in first aid. Male and female Aboriginal people of all ages have been invited to complete their first aid certificates and learn how to save lives. This program aims to encourage better communication between Aboriginal people and St John Ambulance. First aid training is critical to improving the health of Aboriginal families.

Primary Health Care Programs

In the year under review the Office of Aboriginal Health established a range of primary healthcare programs for in Aboriginal communities. These programs included: cervical cancer; heart health; child health; alcohol; health promotion; and men’s health.