Notre Dame

Associate Professor Clive Walley, Louise Austen, Professor David Paul, Denise Groves and Sharon Bell from Notre Dame’s Aboriginal Health Team. Photo: Supplied

Anew health training hub at Notre Dame’s Broome Campus is set to transform health in the Kimberley, addressing the growing shortage of health care professionals in the region by substantially increasing training opportunities for nursing, midwifery, and allied health students and professionals. Notre Dame will lead a consortium of universities to establish the Kimberley University Department of Rural Health (KUDRH) as part of a $54.4 million Federal Government initiative announced in April 2017. The initiative will provide a significant boost for the Kimberley region, ensuring that health students and professionals have a greater opportunity to live, study and work in Broome and in other communities in the Kimberley. The University’s Broome Campus will receive about $8.5 million – a share of the $26 million in funding set aside specifically for the creation of additional University Departments of Rural Health.

New University Department of Rural Health at Notre Dame Broome Campus to ‘transform Kimberley’

Notre Dame’s KUDRH, which is due to commence operation in 2018, will provide training and undertake research focused on advancing health outcomes for Aboriginal and rural people. It will provide high quality health training and support in the Kimberley through a range of activities including the following: • collaboration with primary health networks and Aboriginal health organisations to implement a model of support assisting and empowering undergraduate students to study and return to work in the Kimberley;

Top award for Notre Dame’s Aboriginal Health Team

An award that recognises exceptional progress in Aboriginal health education has been presented to a team at UNDA’s Australia’s School of Medicine, who are committed to closing the health gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Fremantle-based Associate Dean Professor David Paul, Head of Aboriginal Health Curriculum, Associate Professor Clive Walley, Senior Lecturer Louise Austen, Placements Coordinator Sharon Bell and Student Support Officer Denise Groves, are part of Notre Dame’s Aboriginal Health Team that received the LIMElight Award for Excellence in Community Engagement at the seventh biennial LIME (Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education) Connection held in Melbourne in early April. The LIMElight Awards recognise the significant and outstanding work of staff, students and medical schools in the teaching of Indigenous health, and Indigenous student recruitment and graduation, across Australia and New Zealand. As part of a community-engagement program that began six years ago, Notre Dame’s Medicine students travel throughout Western Australia, working closely with Aboriginal elders to educate communities on a wide range of health issues. Professor Paul said that due to the long-term nature of the engagement program, Notre Dame’s Medicine students have made a meaningful contribution to bridging the health gap between Aboriginal and nonAboriginal people. “Notre Dame’s Medicine students are exposed to the Aboriginal Health Curriculum from their first day on Campus, and we provide opportunities for students to learn on Country with Elders over time. “An exposure to Aboriginal people, and their issues and experiences, ensures that our Medicine graduates are more effective when working with and alongside Aboriginal people and communities,” Professor Paul said.

The University of Notre Dame Australia is the beneficiary of Federal Government funding to establish the Kimberley University

Department of Rural Health on the Broome Campus. Photo: Supplied

• increasing community and studentled rural clinical placements; • transition support to rural and remote practices for those new to the Kimberley; • professional development opportunities for the existing workforce; and • increased research relating to rural and remote health and interprofessional practice. Professor Juli Coffin, Head of Notre Dame’s Broome Campus, welcomed the announcement. “The Federal Government has recognised the need for a multidisciplinary health training hub in the Kimberley to meet the region’s growing demands for highly skilled allied health professionals,” she said. “It will not only provide greater access for students in an Indigenous health context, but also a rich personal and professional experience that you can’t find anywhere else in Australia.” Notre Dame Vice Chancellor, Professor Celia Hammond said the University was delighted to lead this initiative. “It will provide opportunities for our students and collaborating universities. We are confident it will make a difference to addressing health workforce shortages and needs within the Kimberley region, and continue our long-standing commitment and presence in Broome,” Professor Hammond said.