Episode 100. Central Australian Aboriginal Congress with Dr Sam Heard
The provision of healthcare to our indigenous population provides both a privilege and a challenge for administrators, doctors, nurses and allied healthcare workers. For most of us living far away in metropolitan centres, comfortably ignorant and sheltered from these very real challenges we can only begin to imagine the cultural sensitivities, demands and clinical problems at hand.
The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC) was established in 1973 to find health care solutions and to provide support and advocacy for aboriginal people in the struggle for justice and equity. Congress is the largest and oldest aboriginal community-controlled health organisation in the Northern Territory providing culturally appropriate holistic primary care to aboriginal people living in Alice Springs and within a 100 km radius of Alice including 5 remote communities. Congress also has four clinics in Alice Springs itself and their many services are designed to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in central Australia.
Congress is a strong political advocate of closing the gap in both health and life outcomes amongst aboriginal people and a leader in improving health care outcomes for all aboriginal people.
I had the opportunity of reaching out to Dr Sam Heard who is the medical director of Congress and associate Professor at Flinders University whilst he was on holiday in the Mornington Peninsula. I wanted to find out more about Congress and the typical life of a doctor working in Alice Springs with Aboriginal health. It is a reflection of his generosity and character that he accepted this invitation whilst on vacation. Sam is not only incredibly well credentialled as a medical practitioner with many decades of experience and contribution to indigenous health in the provision of expert health care in the top end he has also been a major contributor to the electronic health record standards in Australia, Europe and the USA. His comprehensive knowledge of health sciences has gained him worldwide recognition and acclaim. Sam was awarded a medal of the order of Australia (OAM) in the 2019 Queen's birthday honours for his services to medicine. Beyond his work at Congress, he also finds time to play guitar in a band he started called cheeky docs which plays regularly at conferences and other venues and is a keen mountain bike rider.
Please enjoy this conversation with Sam.
References:
caac.org.au
mycommunitydirectory.com.au
To be a guest on the show or provide some feedback, I’d love to hear from you: manager@gihealth.com.au
Dr Luke Crantock MBBS, FRACP, is a gastroenterologist in practice for over 25 years. He is the founder of The Centre for GI Health, based in Melbourne Australia and is passionate about educating General Practitioners and patients on disease prevention and how to manage and improve their digestive health.