Cover Story Adelina Stanley, the devoted CEO of Mamu Health Service

ADELINA STANLEY

The devoted CEO of Mamu Health Service Limited

Born in Townsville and raised in Innisfail, Adelina Stanley is a proud member of the Saisarem Tribe of Darnley (Erub) Island, situated in the Eastern Island group of the Torres Strait, and of the Kuku Yalangi, the people of the Daintree region.

Being raised by parents who were both marginalised, Adelina developed a strong sense of social justice. Her father had immigrated from northern Italy in the 1950s and met her mother when working on the cane farms where Italian immigrants and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people worked together cutting cane. Her parents instilled in Adelina and her siblings the importance of family and culture.

Adelina has fond memories growing up in Innisfail, she remembers her backyard resembling ‘little Italy’ where the tropical climate was perfect for her father to grow all the food the family needed including chickens, ducks and pigs. She also grew up eating a lot of seafood including fish, crabs and squid, her father worked hard to ensure that his family ate a very healthy diet. A lot of her mums’ traditional food also made their family menu, including crayfish and turtle and at times would be a mixed cultural cuisine such as eating turtle spaghetti.

The link between healthy eating and wellbeing is indisputable. Adelina says a healthy diet is essential when looking at the health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and feels fortunate to have had an early education into healthy eating and knowledge of ‘eating out of your own backyard’. Her father’s teachings about healthy eating has stayed with Adelina, where she has shared this appreciation with her own children. To the presentday Adelina still enjoys gardening and even has chickens of her own.

Adelina remembers her earlier years in Innisfail as a small bustling town, everyone knew each other, and it was a safe community. As a child, she would spend her time outside with her siblings riding bikes and swimming at the beach or in freshwater creeks. They would make their own fun and there was always something to do. She enjoyed going to school, attending the Good Counsel College from grades 1-10 and completing years 11 and 12 at the Innisfail High School.

...a healthy diet is essential when looking at the health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples...

With a natural drive to give back to community and to support people in any way that she can, she went on to work as the Assistant Project Officer at Skillshare–an employment and training organisation, once finishing school. Adelina moved to New South Wales (NSW) where she started her family, but decided to move back to Innisfail because she wanted to raise her family in a safe community connected to family.

Adelina worked in the cell-diversionary program which was a part of the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody. The program was centred on ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were incarcerated or in watch houses were kept safe and were supported.

After several years Adelina made the move to Townsville where she worked at the Townsville Catholic Diocese in their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education unit. During that time Adelina studied Arts Management at Melbourne University, she also helped establish the Townsville Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Centre.

Adelina wanted to see more of the country and decided to pack up and move to Western Australia for a few years where she worked for the Aboriginal Employment Strategy

before taking a role as the State Manager back in Queensland. At this time the Aboriginal and Islander Minority Council, now called Supply Nation, was being established. Supply Nation is Australia’s largest national directory of verified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses. Adelina held a national position which included a lot of travel to meet with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses throughout the country. The role also included trips overseas as Supply Nation was part of a global network. As much as Adelina enjoyed travelling throughout the country and meeting different mobs, becoming a grandmother helped her make the decision to take up a role that would keep her more at home with her family. On returning to North Queensland she started work with the State Government in the youth space, Adelina was also part of a First Nations council that met monthly with the Director-Generals for Youth Justice and Child Safety. This was a great experience for her and gave her a good understanding of how the machinery of government

worked particularly at a state level. During this time Adelina was awarded a scholarship by the Queensland University of Technology to complete a Graduate Certificate in Business. When the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mamu Health Services Limited (Mamu HSL) became available, Adelina was quick to apply. Adelina was involved with Mamu HSL back in the 90s as a Board Member and later as the Company Secretary. She enjoyed the role and being part of the community and welcomed the opportunity to come back to the organisation. Seeing firsthand the inequality that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experienced motivated her to make a difference and advocate on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in employment and training, development of Indigenous businesses, lowering recidivism and now in the health sector. The unacceptable situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples having a lower life expectancy and worse health outcomes, despite Australia having the resources to provide equitable healthcare, is concerning to Adelina and drives her to make a difference. The importance of equitable access to healthcare and preventative health to achieve better health outcomes has personally shaped Adelina’s life, losing her mother at the age of 12 to cancer. Adelina is determined to do her part to Close the Gap and end the unacceptable inequality in access to health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Adelina commenced the Mamu CEO role in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic at the time when restrictions were imposed; the imminent risk of transmission was causing anxiety and fear amongst Mamu HSL’s local community. It was a very interesting time, the impact of COVID-19 transformed the way

Mamu HSL did business, which included the telehealth platform. Amidst the chaos, this year marks the 30th Anniversary of Mamu (HSL). A very important and remarkable milestone for the organisation. The longevity of the organisation must be attributed to the commitment, passion and dedication of the Mamu HSL board and staff members both past and current.

The founding work of community Elders and leaders has helped pave the way for Mamu HSL to keep leading a local response to provide culturally appropriate quality medical care.

As the new incumbent CEO, Adelina has been working alongside the Mamu HSL board, staff and communities, which includes Mount Garnet, Ravenshoe, Babinda, Tully, Jumbun and Innisfail. The Mamu HSL journey has continued to focus on maintaining a community-based health service that is recognised and embraced by their clients and communities within their footprint. A safe place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, Elders and individuals requiring health care. Mamu HSL’s framework is built on a holistic model of care which encompasses the social determinants of health, whilst recognising and respecting their unique culturally diverse service region. Broadening Mamu HSL’s understanding of the unique cultural differences that are interwoven throughout their region will create a foundation for authentic cross-cultural learning. Increasing Mamu HSL community engagement initiatives will nurture relationships with communities, Elders, Traditional Owners and people of significance to better support health outcomes for clients and patients. Fundamental in the design, development and delivery of embedding a holistic model of care is developing a crosscommunity, cross-agency service model. Building capacity through strengthening partnerships within the health sector and with communitybased organisations to extend service productivity potential to meet ‘on country’ health care needs.

There are challenges with attracting doctors, nurses and specialists to Innisfail over major centres. Mamu HSL rely on the beauty of Innisfail - the Great Barrier Reef, river and rainforest to attract in demand professionals to the service. The beauty of Innisfail and safety as a community to raise a family is the reason why Adelina chose to raise her children there.

Adelina wants to ensure that Mamu HSL is not just recognised for providing comprehensive primary care, but also acknowledged as a major employer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the Cassowary Coast region.

A recent success story has been the opening of a respiratory clinic supported by the Federal Government which has now opened in Innisfail. Adelina is proud of this significant achievement.

Now she is looking towards creating a health precinct, which will include a new Innisfail primary health clinic, alongside their existing administration centre, Mums and Bubs and Family Wellbeing Service to provide clients with the convenience of all these services in one location.

Adelina says that she has been very blessed throughout her career to be able to live across Australia and meet and connect with different mobs around the country. Mamu HSL has provided her with the opportunity to use all of this experience to give back to her community and deliver on her drive to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.