Armajun and Hunter New England Health are joining forces in a “unique” way to deliver health services in Inverell and across the region.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
“There is no one else who works in partnership with organisations to improve the health outcomes for Aboriginals as we have,” HNEH general manager for Northern Tablelands, Wendy Mulligan told The Times.
The idea was first developed in 2012 and involves combining forces to offer services in audiometry, diabetes education, early childhood screening, STI screening, women’s health and more.
“We have doctors coming from HNEH providing special services such as cardiac services, pain management and paediatrics,” Ms Mulligan said.
“We look at working together so that we can cover more with the resources that we have. Armajun had dentists and dental nurses but nowhere to run the clinics. So we developed a service level agreement and allowed them to use our dental clinics in Inverell, Glen Innes and Tenterfield. So they come in, run the service for their clients and use our facilities.”
Ms Mulligan visited Newcastle last month to do a talk about how the partnership is working towards “closing the gap”.
“When we talk about closing the gap, what we’re looking at is … trying to bring together the health differences between Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people,” she said.
“For instance we have the immunisation nurses and Armajun has a bus that we can set up like a clinic. We can go to places where we know there is a target audience.”