Sonder - Your Local Health News - Jan/Feb 2020
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welcome<br />
The world is gripped with the fears and<br />
anxiety linked to the Coronavirus- COVID-19 -<br />
and we hear on a daily basis how this specific<br />
virus has impacted on tourism and the global<br />
economy.<br />
We read and watch on television of the<br />
personal impacts on those who have lost<br />
money on the stock market or those who<br />
have had cruises cancelled. No doubt these<br />
matters are significant and at least at the level<br />
of the individual person, these impacts are<br />
deeply felt. But I wonder where are the news<br />
stories of the thousands who have died and<br />
news about the anguish felt by their families<br />
Why do we not know of the lives of those who<br />
have been robbed of their freedoms or had<br />
their livelihoods destroyed. Is it because these<br />
lives are across the globe, is it because many<br />
of the people are from countries which are<br />
closed off to the world; or is it just because we<br />
lose the capacity to care for those far away<br />
from our lives?<br />
I have been concerned that for many people<br />
the Coronavirus is just another way for them<br />
to cut themselves off from the lives of others.<br />
Just another excuse not to care about the lives<br />
of others. Just another excuse to dwell on our<br />
own fears and anxieties. Just another thing we<br />
can use to discriminate against another set of<br />
people.<br />
What then is the way forward in addressing<br />
the human impact of the virus?<br />
For us at <strong>Sonder</strong> we go back to basics -<br />
we ask the content experts and follow the<br />
evidence based advice from the clinical and<br />
health experts at SA <strong>Health</strong>. We have followed<br />
this advice and are making sure we doing<br />
everything asked of us to keep our staff and<br />
clients safe. We are not falling into the trap of<br />
basing our practice on the anecdotes of nonexperts.<br />
We are confident our partners at SA<br />
<strong>Health</strong> and the PHNs will provide us with the<br />
safety protocols that place the person first and<br />
that we don’t vilify communities or individuals.<br />
We know all too well that those from minority<br />
communities already have enough social<br />
forces that discriminate against them - we will<br />
not allow a virus to add to their woes.<br />
So you will read inside the pages of this<br />
newsletter that we are using this trust-based<br />
partnership approach to continue to deliver<br />
vital services.<br />
Of particular note for the month of March is<br />
the Closing the Gap Day event which will be<br />
held on 19 March with <strong>Sonder</strong> in partnership<br />
with Nunkuwarrin Yunti, NALHN’s Watto<br />
Purrunna and the Adelaide PHN.<br />
We will have over 2,000 Aboriginal people<br />
present on the day to learn more about what<br />
they can do to help themselves to live longer<br />
and what agencies are doing to support that<br />
goal.<br />
We hope to have over 120 exhibitors and stall<br />
holders join the partners for the day and I<br />
hope you will take this as a personal invitation<br />
to join us for the event either as an attendee<br />
or as an exhibitor. You can find out how to do<br />
that inside these pages.<br />
Take care of yourself and I hope you will be<br />
kind to each other.<br />
Sageran Naidoo<br />
Chief Executive Officer<br />
3 YOUR LOCAL health NEWS
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