Members of Bairnsdale Regional Health Service’s Aboriginal Health Unit have demonstrated their innovative approach to Koori heart health at a national medical conference.
Koori Hospital Liaison Officer Adrian Morgan and Care Coordinator Carolyn Alkemade represented the unit and BRHS at the 32nd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian Cardiovascular Health and Rehabilitation Association in Perth recently.
The conference brought together cardiovascular health experts from around Australia to discuss how to provide more equitable care for people in disadvantaged and under-represented groups, including:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- people who are culturally or linguistically diverse
- people in a low socio-economic position
- people with low health literacy
- people in rural and remote populations
- people with disability
- people with mental health issues, and
- women.
Carolyn and Adrian spoke about the AHU’s Warm Introductions, where a member of the AHU team accompanies the Cardiac Liaison Nurse Claire Chapman and introduces her to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander patients to discuss their care.
Adrian said this helps overcome cultural barriers at the hospital.
“Some of our patients hate hospital, and some of them have never been to hospital before, so they just want a bit of support and information,” he said.
“So, when we have a client on the wards, when the cardiac nurse sees them they can feel a bit intimidated, but if we introduce her it makes the whole thing more relaxed and the clients seem to understand everything better.”
Cardiac issues are more common in the Koori community in East Gippsland.
Australian Bureau of Statistics health data from 2021 identified cardiovascular disease as a significant contributor to reduced life expectancy among Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people living in the Orbost catchment area, for example, record rates of heart disease at 6% per cent, well above the national rate of 3.7%.
Carolyn said the response to the BRHS presentation was overwhelmingly positive.
”It was received so well. We were the third last to present on the third day, the last day. I think the people that work in Indigenous health were really interested,” she said.
“I think it really reinforced what a lot of presenters were saying (at the conference) – what we should be doing in Aboriginal health. That was nice. People contacted us on the day. There have been lots of follow-up calls and emails. They’re interested in learning more about what we’re doing.”
Carolyn said the Aboriginal Health Unit hopes to expand Warm Introductions to Aboriginal patients with other ailments.
Adrian and Carolyn also demonstrated their Koori Heart Health Kits at the conference.
These contain scales and a measuring jug to help patients monitor fluid intake and retention, culturally appropriate information on cardiac rehabilitation, chewing gum to counteract dry mouths for people on restricted fluid intake and QR codes connecting patients to Aboriginal-specific videos on heart disease.
Adrian and Carolyn also returned to BRHS with new ideas, including using Aboriginal English – a form of English that can be understood across the wide variety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language groups – in communications for their patients.
“A lot of the resources for patients are made using Simple English, and a lot of Aboriginal people find that a bit degrading. We’re looking at using those resources and introducing them in one of our community cardiac programs, or in our Koori Heart Health Kit,” she said.
A different approach, Clinical Yarning, was another interesting cultural approach to communication, which was presented at the conference. It’s also available via a free 2-hour online training package.
