Working with community to achieve health equity

Fred Chong has dedicated decades of his life giving back to the community through his counselling work and volunteering for a variety of organisations.

Mr Chong, who is a member of the Townsville Hospital and Health Service (HHS) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Advisory Council, knows firsthand the challenges First Nations people face in their journey for health equity.

“There is a big gap in healthcare for First Nations people living in rural and remote areas that needs to be addressed,” Mr Chong said.

“I find the biggest problems we have in rural areas are travel and accommodation once they get to Townsville.

“When we look at people in community, a lot of them don’t have the money to travel for an appointment and they are so used to having family support, if they leave community, they are isolated because no one can afford to travel with them.

“Sometimes this means people won’t go to their appointments and become more unwell.

“These are all hiccups we have in getting First Nations people to their appointments.”

Mr Chong, who is currently receiving treatment at Townsville University Hospital for prostate cancer, said building a First Nations workforce and outreach into community would play a key role in closing the gap in north Queensland.

“I’m lucky I’ve had a lot of dealings with health, my son is a doctor, my daughter works at Logan Hospital, my sister has just retired as a registered nurse, and I have another sister who is the CEO of the Mareeba Mulungu Primary Health Care Service,” he said.

“I feel sorry for those who don’t have the knowledge of the health pathways and who they need to turn to, which is why it is so important we work with First Nations people to improve health outcomes.

“We also need more First Nations people working in the system to help build a bridge of trust between the system and the people and we need to speak to community on their terms in spaces that are comfortable and familiar to them.

The Townsville HHS has recently published its Health Equity Strategy implementation plan which sets commences our health services journey to facilitating change to address the gap in health outcomes.

Townsville HHS executive director for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health Amanda Cooms said the implementation plan sets out how the health service would achieve the priorities set out in the strategy.

“While delivering the strategy was the first step, this implementation plan sets out the tangible things we need to do to achieve health equity,” she said.

“Community is at the heart of the strategy and the engagement and feedback we received from local First Nations people, our staff and other organisations have provided us invaluable insight regarding what needs to change and why.

“Importantly, we can’t achieve health equity without a collaborative and compassionate workplace that is committed to meaningful and sustainable change of current systems and structures.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the health service rise to the occasion to improve health outcomes for First Nations people.”

Mr Chong said the Strategy and implementation plan were an important first step to achieving health equity.

“Everything needs a start and a pathway to follow,” he said.

“Health equity is a journey we have to share; health service staff need to bring patients and their families on this journey.

“If we can do these things and make the system easier to navigate, we can make great gains towards achieving health equity for First Nations people.”

Click here to read our Health Equity Strategy or view the implementation plan here.