Dr Oscar Whitehead, Medical Lead for the Tropical Public Health Services First Nations COVID-19 Response Team, understands the value of a good yarn to help the vaccine hesitant have all the information they need when deciding about the jab.

The Cairns-based GP has spent much of his medical career embedded in the communities of the Tropical North of the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Since the arrival of COVID-19 he has been at the forefront of Queensland Health’s testing and engagement efforts in Cairns and the Tropical North.

With a background in linguistics and fluent in the Gumatj dialect of Yolŋu Matha, Dr Whitehead understands the importance of listening and allowing communities to make their own decisions when it comes to their health.

“For us, understanding and acknowledging that communities know best how they function, and they know best how to respond, and they know their strengths and weaknesses, is prime,” he said.

Having a yarn and giving people as much information as possible from a trusted source has been integral to the team’s vaccination outreach efforts.

“Instead of going round and doing ‘education’ we did information sharing. We would share our knowledge and we’d learn.

“People need to be able to feel like they can trust everything about our knowledge, and what we’re saying and how that links in with how they actually feel and what they see happening.

“Because, once people build the trust and build their own understanding, then there will be a lot more demand, it will become – well it’s my prediction anyway – that it’ll become a lot like a flu vax.

“It’ll become run-of-the-mill.”

Dr Whitehead also acknowledges the value of local connections when it comes to talking about getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Many of the response team are from the area and so can bring a level of trust to discussions about vaccine safety and efficacy.

That is why having people like Tricia Dixon on the team has become a necessity. Ms Dixon is a Clinical Nurse and local Aboriginal woman who can yarn with local groups and share culturally appropriate information about COVID-19.

“So that’s been really good. Cause people go, ‘oh yeah, I know that girl,’” Dr Whitehead said.

“’Oh yeah, you’ve had yours, it’s all good, you’re alright.’ It’s, you know, millions of times more powerful than me saying, ‘look trust me, I’m a doctor.’”

Dr Whitehead said at the end of the day, communities and individuals need to be allowed to make their own fully informed decisions instead of having programs forced on the community from above.

“It’s not a matter of having police knock at your door and freaking you out, it’s a matter of explaining that this is what you do to keep yourself safe, and this is what you do to keep your family safe. That works a lot better and is a lot less threatening and resource intensive.”

“I think some of the stuff around the history and historical concerns are still prevalent and relevant.

“In Yarrabah, it was very raw when the community got locked down and in Cairns people were free to move around.

“It’s still in living memory about people’s movements being controlled. So, I think just being mindful of those things is useful.

“For me and my team, I think success is everyone being fully informed and making their own choice.

“I suspect that being informed and being allowed to make your own choice is key… I think it’s really important not to even come across like you’re pushing people one way.

“So I think maintaining the relationships – people feeling free – and again, when people make a choice, they can change their minds! And that’s completely up to them.

“You can choose to be vaccinated, you can go and change your mind at the last minute, that’s your choice. You can choose not to be, it doesn’t mean that you’re stuck in that decision.

Again, it comes down to engaging with communities and building trust that you know what you’re talking about.

“Having that relationship where people can just phone up and go, ‘well what do you think? Because we know you’re on top of the info and we trust what you’re saying. What do you think about this?’”

“That’s success to me.”

Pictured: Dr Oscar Whitehead (left) pictured with Tropical Public Health Services First Nations COVID-19 Response Team colleague Clayton Abreu. 

If you would like more information, or to book an appointment contact:

• Apunipima Cape York Health Council
• Mulungu Aboriginal Corporation Primary Health Care Service
• Wuchopperen Health Service
• Gurriny Yealamucka Health Services Aboriginal Corporation