News

New team in place at Swan Hill Koori health service

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 13:02:00

The Mallee District Aboriginal Services is reinvigorating its Swan Hill health clinic, with a new primary health management team and more upgrading works on the way.

Experienced and fully qualified remote area nurse Judy Lamb has taken on the role of Manager of Primary Health Care at MDAS Swan Hill, and is being joined by new GP Dr Nishanth Abeydeera and Aboriginal Health Worker Batrika Riyumal.
Ms Lamb previously spent 13 years at the Wentworth District Hospital and comes from a strong clinical background as a nurse and midwife with training in sexual health and remote care.
She says the team is focussed on re-establishing the health service as the first choice in healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Swan Hill.
“If I could have written the script for my perfect job – this is it!” Ms Lamb said.
“It’s an exciting time in Australia for Aboriginal health because we have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander framework in place to set goals for making real progress in Closing the Gap on health for Aboriginal people,” she said.
“But not only that, MDAS itself is an organisation I was very keen to get involved with, because it is a strong reinvigorated organisation that is on the right track and the leadership team is qualified and inspiring which is very exciting for MDAS.
“I am here to make a difference – I’m completely committed to getting together a team that’s focussed on getting the job done and helping our community and we’ve made some really good progress with that with the leaders MDAS now has in place.”
Ms Lamb said her focus is on pro-active strategies that will make a difference to Koori health outcomes in Swan Hill and Kerang.
“Disease prevention and health promotion is the way forward and I will be working closely with the community to ensure the service we have here is one our community will have confidence in and will turn to,” she said.
“We are determined to Close the Gap for our community, and preventative health care will bring about short term and long term results.”
The Aboriginal Primary Health Clinic in Nyah Road commenced a half million dollar first stage of a redevelopment project for the facility earlier this year.  Work is due to start soon on the second stage.  Planning is underway for another $600,000 upgrade encompassing both the medical service and family services areas, as well as work on the administration area and community hall.
The work is expected to begin towards the end of this year.
Ms Lamb said staff at the service had started an intensive campaign to re-engage community members with the medical service.
“We have quite a long list of people who are due for re-calls for various health reasons, and we are so committed to our community that we have started the process of following these up with letters and phone-calls,” she said.
“We are also starting with pre-school aged children whose immunisations are due and overdue, and will be moving out from there.
“We are here to provide a comprehensive and professional Primary Health Care service that is culturally-appropriate and specifically tailored to the needs of our Aboriginal people.
“We would welcome anyone who has not used our service for a while to make contact and come in, have a look and meet our team.”