Chairperson’s Report
DONNELLA MILLS CHAIRPERSON
It wasn’t so long ago that our borders were shut to the rest of the world. Our way of life was turned upside down as we tried to stay in front of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wearing masks, social distancing and regularly washing hands became the new normal. The government admitted it was no longer possible to stop community transmission.
In December 2021, our borders opened and COVID arrived with full force. At that point COVID had erupted and upended the strategies already in place. We had watched the dire situation unfold in western New South Wales which escalated into a crisis in the Aboriginal community of inner Sydney.
From this experience, we knew we needed to act swiftly and follow the health directives to keep our people safe. By the end of December 2021, we began to see the impacts of COVID-19 with many of our services heavily restricted for the majority of the first half of 2022. This decision was met with confusion and created a somewhat COVID barrier to the community. But we walked forward together and kept our community, our staff and each other safe. We stood up to the task by shifting our delivery, to working from home and developing unique ways to communicate with our clients. It is fair to say that, through the efforts of the staff led by Dania Ahwang our CEO, we avoided a much worse situation. I also want to thank our community members for their trust, patience and support as we worked through the various challenges of COVID-19.
Nevertheless, we have started seeing a sense of normalcy return on campus. Face to face business as usual has seen an immediate increase in client numbers. We are reconnecting with each other and making up for lost time. There are many new learnings we will implement to enhance our thinking towards new opportunities and partnerships that will diversify and expand the delivery of comprehensive primary health care for our clients. Over the past year, Wuchopperen has continued to advocate, build new relationships and support our community in a range of important initiatives.
The vaccination roll out commenced, with the focus eventually shifting to children’s vaccinations, the winter dose and flu dose.
We are halfway through our strategic plan, evaluating and measuring progress while we look to the future. As many of you would know, we ran a very successful health justice partnership which
ceased last year. Our clients were able to access free legal help onsite. It is a personal project that is close to my heart. We aim to restart the legal clinic in 2023. Finally, the Board is committed to modernizing our Constitution. A new Constitution is key to strengthening Wuchopperen governance and strengthening community control.
I have been fortunate to serve alongside some dedicated and expert directors on the Wuchopperen Board. I thank all of them for their contributions over the twelve months. But I must admit that the continuation of the pandemic into 2021-2022 did not make the work of the Board easy. Nevertheless, we continued to meet and worked through a number of key policies and issues.
We must recognise that staff are exhausted, and the next financial year will be about rejuvenation. They must be congratulated for their outstanding achievements and for their vital and continuing efforts to serve our clients. In closing, I deeply thank Dania and the Wuchopperen staff who roll up their sleeves, day-in and day-out, to deliver such an effective and innovative model of health care to our community across the region. We need to still be on our guard. The pandemic is far from over and we must continue to keep our communities and especially our Elders, safe. No matter what comes next, Wuchopperen Health Service is and will always be our place, where we belong.
MHWS Chairperson
RODERICK BURKE MEN’S HEALTH AND WELLBEING SUBCOMMITTEE
Wuchopperen’s Men’s Health and Wellbeing Subcommittee had its first meeting on 16 March 2022 with the appointment of Subcommittee Chair, Director Roderick Burke and Subcommittee Members Director Solomon Gela and Director Gavin Ahkee in keeping with male-led men’s health and wellbeing considerations.
The Subcommittee was formed to address men’s health and wellbeing as a key strategic priority of Wuchopperen. Whilst the Subcommittee’s key focus is our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, the Subcommittee has, from its earliest discussions, clearly recognised the broader scope to be inclusive of all men and based on a communal approach that includes our women, children and families in achieving its vision of ‘Strong Men’.
At its second meeting on 30 March 2022, the Subcommittee endorsed its values-based framework for Strong Men incorporating Wuchopperen’s vision and the subcommittee’s vision, cultural connectedness, key priorities, priority population and principles. The Subcommittee has based its framework on Wuchopperen’s values and behaviours of leadership, integrity, accountability, respect.
After confirming the Strong Men framework, the Subcommittee have continued to identify their future priorities including sourcing an onsite dedicated space/ hub for Men’s Health and Wellbeing services and staffing and resourcing the hub.
The Subcommittee continues to consider a language name that captures culture and represents the Subcommittee’s focus on Strong Men and will commence stakeholder engagement on this in the near future.
Roles, Responsibilities THE SUBCOMMITTEE’S KEY PRIORITIES INCLUDE:
THE SUBCOMMITTEE WAS FORMED TO ADDRESS MEN’S HEALTH AND WELLBEING AS A KEY STRATEGIC PRIORITY OF WUCHOPPEREN
CEO’s Report
DANIA AHWANG CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
As we wrap up another huge year for Wuchopperen, it is with the greatest respect that I acknowledge the Gimuy Walubara Yidinji people and pay my deepest respect to our elders, our forefathers and our many mothers, who have enabled us to be here today. As we look back on the last year, I also want to recognise the strength and resilience of our Cairns and surrounding communities as we have lived through another year of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
It is truly an honour to recognise our Board of Directors who passionately uphold our vision of ‘Improving the quality of life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ each and every day. Equally I recognise and honour being part of our amazing Executive Leaders and working closely with our dedicated Senior Leaders and our elite staff.
This year, by far, has seen our biggest impacts of COVID-19 with many of our services heavily restricted for the majority of the first half of 2022. As we exited the year, our slow and structured return to business as usual (or the new business as usual post COVID-19) has seen an immediate increase in clients attending our services and programs in person. I want to thank our leaders and our community members for their patience and support as we worked through COVID-19 and kept our community, our staff and ourselves safe and well.
As the “great disruptor” and in true Wuchopperen fashion, COVID-19 has enabled our “innovation through adversity” to define and develop new ways of providing the highest quality services to our community. Wuchopperen has continued its significant investment agenda with refurbishments and enhancements to our building infrastructure to maximise client experience and accessibility. These building improvements have commenced a significant program of strengthening our connection with country by maximising our accessibility and use of outdoor spaces whilst maintaining strong linkages with our indoor areas. Our building program will continue to roll out in coming years as we maximise our access to funding through both grant opportunities and use of our own funds to provide the highest quality services to our community and our clients.
Our building program has also been supplemented by further investments in our information technology base with COVID-19 providing the ideal opportunity for us to strengthen our telehealth services and
videoconferencing capabilities. Again, we are embarking on a major investment over the coming years to continue to grow our information technology capability to ensure we continue to be leaders in the provision of high quality, client centred, culturally safe, integrated, holistic health and wellbeing for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
In closing, I again want to recognise our amazing team and our continued commitment to ‘Keeping our Generations Growing Strong’ through our training and development investment in our current and future staff.
“
OUR “INNOVATION THROUGH ADVERSITY” TO DEFINE AND DEVELOP NEW WAYS OF PROVIDING THE HIGHEST QUALITY SERVICES TO OUR
COMMUNITY
JULY 2021
Wuchopperen
NAIDOC stall at Fogarty Park
JULY 2021
Laura
Indigenous Dance Festival
JUNE 2022
Early years conference
JUNE 2022
Recommenced services as usual
MAY 2022
Gate screening operations ceased
Quinkan
SEPTEMBER 2021
Staff bowling day
OCTOBER 2021
Ministerial visit by Elida Faith (Labor’s candidate for Leichhardt) and Hon Mark Butler, Opposition Minister for Health and Ageing
APRIL 2022
Queensland North team participating in this years National Indigenous Basketball Tournament at the Gold Coast.
MARCH 2022
Inaugural King and Wood Mallesons First Nations Youth Council
NOVEMBER 2021 Elders Christmas Party and Staff Christmas Party
COVID Response and Recovery
As we approached the end of 2021 a focus for the clinic was again on our COVID-19 response, to ensure we kept the community safe when the borders opened. The clinic saw an increase in telehealth appointments, with clients staying connected to their Health Worker or doctor from their homes. All staff groups have worked hard to work within the ongoing restrictions and public health advice. As the clinics re-opened we encouraged our clients to return to the clinics and our services.
The COVID pandemic reached a peak for Cairns in December 2021 with the State borders and international borders opening.
Business as usual was modified in accordance with the Wuchopperen COVID Pandemic Response Plan. This meant that most of the work by clinics was done via Telehealth with specified same day consults seen in person.
All Wuchopperen Staff collaborated to assist with the COVID-19 pandemic response through screening clients presenting to the gate and clinic doors and following up with the most vulnerable clients both within the social programs and clinical space via phone calls. Reports were prepared from the electronic medical record to allow clinicians to contact clients deemed most vulnerable by age and disease status.
The Donga Department of Health Respiratory Clinic was open for business as usual and saw a number of COVID positive cases during the height of the pandemic. Clients requiring case management and follow up were given priority with access to antiviral treatment becoming available during the last six months of the Respiratory Clinic operations.
The COVID vaccination task force was developed at Wuchopperen, including staff allocated with assistance from the Department of Health and State healthcare partners. This task force was instrumental in getting Wuchopperen clients and the broader community vaccinated against COVID. The teams provided pop up clinics, as well as walk in services on site and collaborated with the COVID First Nations Response Team to work together at other community hubs. This service was open to anyone for access to COVID vaccinations and several non-Wuchopperen clients accessed the COVID vaccination clinic which provided a greater cover of COVID vaccinations in the community.
Women, Children & Maternal Health
The Womens, Children’s and Maternal Health support at Wuchopperen was restricted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Since services reopened we are very grateful to be able to support mothers and families again.
“
The midwife and doctor have been amazing with my care during my pregnancy and after birth with my son and with his care. The midwife has taken time to be very informative and is always following up with any concerns I might have. My pregnancy had a few complications and with Wuchopperen overseeing everything and giving me support I feel more reassured. The team is the reason I trust and attend Wuchopperen with my children. Their services are excellent and if I decide to have more children, I would want to BE
IN THEIR CARE”
- Client
Allied Health Services
Allied Health Services are a part of a team that works closely with our other clinical staff and other programs to assist the clients on their health journeys. The team assists our clients with wrap-around support including education, self-managing their chronic illnesses, physical or mental health, through to services including diagnosis, treatment, education, rehabilitation and transport.
The Allied Health Team see clients at Manoora and visit Edmonton every week.
Our service was heavily impacted during COVID-19. As our services reduced, our waiting list grew, and we began referring clients to another dental practice to receive treatment. When our dental service closed we became one of the many screeners at the entrances of the health service. As part of our Australian Dental Association requirement, we routinely ran and tested our equipment and infection control procedures. Our dentists provided phone consultations – providing advice and infection management.
We have started up our dental service again engaging with internal programs to ensure that kids have a regular dental checkup.
Dental Community Dietitian
Throughout the COVID-19 response and recovery, our Community Dietitian provided clients with one on one sessions through telehealth services and face to face to ensure our client’s best outcomes during this challenging time. The Community Dietitian has finished her role and we are currently recruiting another Dietitian for this position. We are looking forward to getting the next Dietitian back out onto the road providing group education sessions to our community.
Optometry
Optometry services significantly reduced just before Christmas 2021. We were unable to conduct face to face services and we referred our eligible clients to other optometrists. During that time our optometrist delivered a backlog of glasses to clients, we delivered more than 100 glasses to clients around Cairns. We reduced our staffing and streamlined our working processes. We also transitioned our services into the Reef building which had much better walking accessibility. We were overjoyed to start up face-toface appointments with our clients again in mid-April and have caught up on the backlog of clients needing support.
Podiatry
Like other sections of Allied Health, COVID-19 impacted our ability to support our community members. We said farewell to our previous Podiatrist and welcomed a new starter in March. Since then, we implemented new foot care strategies focusing on education and screening to reduce the risk of foot complications, and upskilling of nurses and health workers on wound dressing and offloading. These changes have decreased the healing time considerably. We have engaged with other footwear manufacturers who have kindly assisted with shoes – a big win.
Our Hearing Health Worker services 13 different schools around the Cairns region and sees clients at our Manoora and Edmonton sites to complete hearing health assessments. We’ve had positive feedback from local schools about the deadly work Kenny does and how important the ear/hearing health program is for schools. This service was reduced whilst Wuchopperen was in the response phase of COVID-19. We restarted our outreach services in May and reconnected with Hearing Australia to deliver their Hearing Assessment Program, Early Ears for 0–5 year olds.
National Community Connectors Program (NCCP)
Our NCCP ran until September when our funding expired. During that time, we managed over 60 clients. We helped our clients understand the language and the process of the NDIS; attended appointments with families; advocated for client needs and provided transport assistance. We referred clients that are not eligible to other services for support as well. With new funding received, we have reestablished our NCCP program for the next financial year.
Hearing Health Transport Integrated Team Care
Our deadly bus drivers were not able to continue providing client transport whilst Wuchopperen had reduced services. They became our main screeners at our gates to screen the community as they attended appointments at some of our clinics. Day in and day out our bus drivers sat on the gate all day long, until they got the OK to drive their much-loved buses again. They are back on the road again now with their happy smiles. Picking up and dropping clients at their appointments around Cairns or bringing them into the health service.
The Integrated Team Care Program improved the health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders clients who live with chronic health conditions. This was achieved through enabling better access to health services with the goal of our clients being able to self-manage their own health. We provided culturally appropriate care, education, transport to medical and specialist appointments, medical equipment, and medical aids; and promoted early intervention and management. The ITC team also provide advocacy for our clients and attended appointments where required. The team completed many home visits in our community and work closely with all health professionals in the Cairns region.
1777
6489
3262 NUMBER OF ITC CLIENTS SEEN ITC TRANSPORT TRIPS PROVIDED CARE CORDINATION SERVICES PROVIDED TO ITC CLIENTS
546 NEW CLIENTS JOINED THE ITC PROGRAM SELF MANAGING ITC CLIENTS PURCHASE THROUGH ITC PROGRAM MEDICAL AIDS 1162 387
Child Wellbeing Program
Client Success Story
A teenage Boy aged 14 years old, lives at home with his mum and dad and siblings, became disengaged from family members and school. He became involved with the Youth Justice system due to criminal activity.
The Cultural Mentor began contact with the young man to understand his situation. Following a few sessions and after building rapport, the mentor began the process of honest and open conversations and offered alternate solutions.
The child’s mentor facilitated yarning circles with all the family and the young man to share their understandings. Since joining the Cultural Mentor Program and engaging in yarning activities with his mentor and parents, he no longer stays out late, he lets his parents know where he is going and when he will be home, and he has stopped engaging in criminal activity.
The family, especially his mum and dad, were able to express how proud of him they were for continuing with school and choosing a better path in life. He is always ready early in the morning for his school pick up and is looking forward to earning a bike to ride to and from school. His relationship with his family has also improved dramatically and his respect for them is clear to see by members of the program at Wuchopperen Health Service.
Family Wellbeing Service
The Family Wellbeing Service (FWB) provides families with culturally safe services that are designed and delivered by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people to build and maintain happy, healthy, and safe families. The service supports families from pre-birth to 18 years old, including young people. The service focuses on the whole family, with the goal of ensuring children remain with their families and are safe, supported in their childhood and adolescent years
Over the last financial year, we have had 182 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families use the service.
Case Study
A Client has successfully completed her case plan goals with the Family Wellbeing Program at Wuchopperen Health Service. She has always engaged with a positive attitude and allowed FWB worker to support her understanding why it was important she engage with the current services and programs. It is fantastic to see that client sees benefit to all information she receives from stakeholders involved. She is also engaged in other programs and services within Wuchopperen.
She knows that should she require support in the future; she can self – refer to the program at any time for support. Well done to the client on achieving some great goals and always being resilient.
HIPPY North
Group meetings commenced as COVID-19 restrictions were eased and attendance numbers have risen. Cultural workshops, art and gardening programs were delivered and parents and HIPPY children were able to socialise and take part in additional learning opportunities.
Good News Story
HIPPY North was impacted by COVID and had to pivot with the rest of the community. Our achievements still made a significant impact on providing strong foundations for a child’s learning. Before the COVID restrictions many of our families made great advances in understanding how their children learnt and how to teach those strengths. Some of our families come from non-English speaking backgrounds so this was a great achievement for the parents and their children. One family started a daily bedtime reading with their children. This was a wonderful way to make family time a routine and improve the family’s English. As an outcome the mother had greater confidence in connecting to her community at activities and excursions supported by Hippy and Wuchopperen.
A family in Melbourne lockdown still found a way to participate in the Hippy activities. One activity was called “Imaginary Town”. It involved parents engaging with their children to build an imaginary town with the materials around them. The family built a town using a Monopoly board and cards for houses. Another family created an “Isolation City”; this was all about the COVID restrictions in Cairns. The activity helped the child learn about what a lockdown looks like, why it was needed and how it impacted the community and the world around us.
A mother said “As we move towards the end of age four I can look back and see that HIPPY has helped us connect more as a family unit, my child and I get more quality time together working on education which is an activity that we only did on some occasions. It is now a part of our weekly schedule.”
HIPPY HAS HELPED US CONNECT MORE AS A FAMILY UNIT, MY CHILD AND I GET MORE FAMILY
TIME TOGETHER
“My child is very patient with his brother who takes part in HIPPY and will help him work through different activities and explain how to complete tasks. One of my other sons is more of an active learner so his brother gains more play-based experiences through him. All children have different learning styles, so I’m starting to understand and incorporate different ways to teach my son nursery rhymes, singing and learning through games. When comparing the two older brothers to my HIPPY child I can see that he is currently ahead in his early education compared to his brothers when they were that age.”
“The five learning areas have really helped me as a mum expose my child to a variety of learning areas to help him understand the world around him, it makes me so proud to see him exposed to different cultures, community events, learning through daily experiences, patience, learn new words, the importance of play based learning and basic education practices like sounding out words, exploring shapes, letters as well as counting.”
Our Place
Green Initiatives
•Our transition to electronic records management has significantly reduced paper consumption.
•Upgrade and rationalisation of printers across the campus with monthly reporting on usage
•Continuation of lighting replacement with more energy efficient LED
• We replaced all fleet cars to low –emission hybrid models, allowing for lower fuel consumption and reducing harmful emissions and noise pollution.
•We travelled over 85,000 kms. This is at least 6 laps of Australia.
•Our solar panels installed in 2020 now produce around 30% of our power.
Infrastructure
Another busy year for our Infrastructure and Maintenance Team as we upgraded our CCTV security cameras to keep our clients and staff safe. We completed the renewal of Savannah house. We have some more work to do on the outdoor area in the next financial year.
At Coral Cay we put in new carpet and some modern furniture and repainted the inside and outside. At the respiratory clinic we installed fresh air intake fans and Air Conditioners. We modernized our furniture in the other buildings and gave them a fresh coat of paint.
Out on Moody street we installed a digital sign to help promote our work, display public health messaging. We have started planning work on creating better pathways to improve client access across the campus. Included is a new bus shelter.
Independent auditor s report
to the members ofWuchopperen Health Service Limited
Opinion
Cairns Corporate Tower
Level 13 15 Lake Street
Cairns QLD 4870
Correspondence to: PO Box 7200
Cairns QLD 4870
T +61 7 4046 8888
F +61 7 4051 0116
E info.cairns@au.gt.com
W www.grantthornton.com.au
We have audited the financial report of Wuchopperen Health Service Limited statement of financial position as at 30 June 2022, the statement of comprehensive income, statement of changes in equity and statement of cash flows for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary
In our opinion, the accompanying financial report ofWuchopperen Health Service Limitedhas been prepared in accordance withDivision 60 of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012, including: agiving a true and fair view of the Compa ncial position as at 30 June 2022and of its financial performance for the year then ended; and bcomplying with Australian Accounting StandardsAASB 1060 General Purpose Financial Statements Simplified Disclosures for For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Tier 2 Entities andDivision 60 of the Australian Charities and Not-forprofits Commission Regulation 2013
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with Australian Auditing Standards. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the section of our report. We are independent of the Company in accordance with the auditor independence requirements of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 and the ethical requirements of the Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants financial report in Australia. We have also fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with the Code. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
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The directors are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the 2 report thereon.
Our opinion on the financial report does not cover the other information and accordingly we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Grant Thornton Audit Pty Ltd ACN 130 913 594 a subsidiary or related entity of Grant Thornton Australia Ltd ABN 41 127 556 389
