Ten years ago Sharon Gray was part of the first group of outreach workers rolled out in communities by the Federal Government to Close the Gap for Aboriginal health.
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The indigenous projects officer at UOW’s School of Medicine is today still doing her bit to improve health and social outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
But speaking during a special National Close the Gap Day 10th anniversary celebration event at UOW on Thursday, Mrs Gray said more was still needed to achieve equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in health and life expectancy.
“There has been quite a significant difference made in the community since the Close the Gap initiative started and it was identified that our first nation people were dying 17 years younger than non-indigenous Australians,” she said.
“But the latest government report on the strategy suggest we are not quite there.
“Only three of the eight initiatives set out have been reached.
“This time next year I’d like to see more advancement in our key targetted areas – that includes in education, child morbidity and in accessing students to schools.
“I’d also like to hear that [UOW] our medical students have decided that they will go to rural areas and become doctors out there where they will make a much better difference for Aboriginal communities.”
UOW Graduate Medicine partners with local Aboriginal communities throughout the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, giving medical students the opportunity to engage with the community and learn first-hand what is happening within Indigenous health and medicine.
“We have a number of Aboriginal programs for our first year students,” Mrs Gray said.
‘They go out to do compulsory placements and they engage with Aboriginal people and have a talk, yarn to see what’s actually happening out there in their communities in the area of health.
“This engagement gives the medical students a sneak peek of what they are going to encounter in four years time when they're sitting in a GP setting. One of our hopes is they will become rural doctors, because that’s desperately needed.”