Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellyneeds, but was incredibly resource intensive. The doctors rarely took a lunchbreak.Another difficult factor relating to the clinic for staff members was the highincidence of illness and death occurring at younger ages in the Aboriginalcommunity, particularly related to diabetes and heart disease. When one clientin her late thirties died, the staff members were visibly upset, saying it’s notright, and she was younger than me. They were faced with the reality ofAboriginal community health inequities every day, and often it wasoverwhelming. There were no debriefing mechanisms apart from talking witheach other.Between a rock and a hard place; client & health service expectationsAgainst this backdrop, the local Aboriginal women (from Collaboration AreaOne) were asking for a craft group or women’s group. However, there was noworker employed at the Aboriginal Neighbourhood House/AboriginalOutreach Health Service with a community development, women’s health orsocial emotional well- being focus. One staff member said;We know what they want, but we just don’t have the staff to provide it.The best we can do is to provide a room and some craft items for them(AH D3).Another said;… even if staff were available it is not a priority for the health service; weare at the bottom of the decision making hierarchy. Even if we wanted tohelp them, we have little ability or support to do so (AH D6).One staff member discussed that the local community women had come in andgotten very angry about there not being support for a group. She said it’s notmy fault, and I can’t deal with their anger on top of everything else (AH D2).Another commented we know what the local women want is important, butwhen you have really sick people coming in from The Lands (remote areas) weneed to prioritise their immediate health needs (AH D5).The high and immediate needs of acutely ill people from other areas had alarge impact on service availability for local women. One worker explained226