To coincide with this year’s National Close the Gap Day on 18 March 2021, the Central Adelaide Local Health Network (CALHN) has launched the ‘Ask the Question’ Campaign.
Ask the Question is a joint initiative of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing Hub (ATSIH&WH) and the Aboriginal Priority Care Committee.
It has been developed as a targeted strategy to increase identification rates of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people using CALHN’s services, and specifically, to raise the awareness of staff and community members to the importance of identifying the Indigenous status of all patients.
The campaign includes the development of the Ask the Question Learning Module and promotional resources to disseminate and promote the campaign at community events and forums.
CALHN staff can access an Ask the Question online learning module to strengthen their knowledge and confidence to ask the question ‘Are you (or is the person) of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin?’ of all patients accessing services.
CALHN launched the campaign at a livestreamed event on 19 March hosted by Matthew McInnes (Executive Director, Allied Health and Strategic Integration and Partnership) and Ngara Keeler (Senior Project Manager Aboriginal Strategy). The session included a Question and Answer session with a panel that included Frank Wanganeen (Kaurna and Narungga Elder and CALHN consumer) and Denise Karpany (Strategic Project Officer, ATSIHWH).
‘I hope the campaign will work towards raising awareness among CALHN staff to accurately identify the Indigenous status of people accessing our services. This will lead to increasing the identification rates of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and most importantly, connect Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander patients with culturally appropriate care and support,’ Denise Karpany said.
