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Communication is key to keeping mob safe

Haylene Grogan, Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer and Deputy Director-General Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Division at Queensland Health, thinks getting a COVID-19 jab is the best way to keep mob and the community safe.  

But she also wants people to have enough trusted information to make up their own minds. And the best way to do that is engagement, communication and planning. 

Ms Grogan is a proud Yalanji and Tagalaka woman with decades of experience as a clinician, policy maker and leader. Ms Grogan is the first person to be appointed as Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer to improve outcomes and access for Indigenous patients in Queensland.  

She says it is a cherished privilege to be able to protect society in the times of COVID-19. 

“I’m very privileged to be in a position, the first of its kind, in Australia I think, and I’m privileged to be coming back home because I’ve been in the health sector most of my career as well,” Ms Grogan said. 

Ms Grogan’s personal vaccination journey begins in 1982 when she worked as a receptionist at Wuchopperen Aboriginal Medical Service Centre in Cairns. From there she became an Aboriginal Health Worker but, in those days, there was no formal training for the position. Ms Grogan knew that she needed formal training, so she studied nursing. 

That nursing training instilled in her a clinician’s point-of-view and wanting to do the right thing as a clinician so getting a COVID-19 vaccination was a no-brainer for her. 

“I suppose it gives you a level of – you can’t say, ‘I’m totally going to be ok’ – but a level of protection,” she said. 

“I’m one of the society that has some level of protection and the more of us that are protected the better. So I’m proud, and not feeling completely safe but a level of safety.  

“But also, proud that I made the decision as soon as I could.” 

However, Ms Grogan understands not everyone is in her position and that’s why engagement is so important. 

“This is all about communications, engagement, and planning,” she said. 

“And I think those first two are really important; communications with our mob; but probably more important is engagement. 

“We’ve found that to be a successful strategy. Making sure that we can have as much conversation with community as possible.  

“In Torres, they’re close to the international border and we targeted those couple of islands that are very close to PNG. 

“What the significant difference was us having a high community engagement with them. They sat down and we had a big community conversation. Then as soon as one or two lined up, we started to see more of the mob lining up – or getting more lined up – so I think we ended up with 80 percent or something quite significant in that first round.”  

Ms Grogan also thinks it’s important for mob to tell their vaccination stories to each other.  

“I think that if they can hear that people have been vaccinated and they’re OK. They might have gotten sick in one or two of the jabs, but I think it’s really important to build confidence with communities to hear the stories that they’ve got,” she said. 

“And I think that once mob are confident that others are doing it then their confidence grows, and it will have a huge impact on hesitancy.” 

That goes for her circle as well. 

“I would be saying, ‘get vaccinated.’” 

She said there was also conversations to be had about the risks involved.  

“There’s stats out there that show you’re more likely to have a car accident driving in the city. There’s a higher risk of that than getting a complication from this.” 

Ms Grogan believes mainstream health could afford to learn a few things about engagement from the Community Controlled sector.  

“The one big thing, without repeating myself about communication and engagement, is us having a relationship with the community. I think that’s the most important thing which enabled us to do those other two things,” she said. 

“You’ve got to have a really strong relationship in most cases and even if it’s not a positive relationship in community, we’ve got a relationship particularly with the Community Controlled sector. 

“If we don’t have that relationship both with the community and the other providers it’s not going to work.  

“I think the mainstream can learn a lot from the way we do things in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, because we’re not just treating the individual, the individual sickness or the individual body part.  

“It’s worth the big push to have a more holistic view of health in a family/community context. Not the way that mainstream often looks at body parts.” 

Health equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people is another issue which the mainstream health system could do with more Indigenous voices. 

“We want our mob in the system: from gardeners, to surgeons, to leadership positions. Aboriginal people across the whole system. We want to have a voice in the system,” she said.  

“If you have people in the system, you get a voice in the system as well.  

“So, our people in the system, our voice in the system, and a better coordinated system.  

“And that’s working together to support our patients from home, into hospital and back. And hopefully we don’t have to support them, we actually prevent them from going to hospital.” 

If you would like more information, or to book an appointment check out the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council to find your local Member clinic.

Pictured (left-right): Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young; Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Yvette D’Ath MP;  Artist Jedess Hudson; Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer and Deputy Director-General Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Division at Queensland Health, Haylene Grogan; and QAIHC Chair and Gladstone Region Aboriginal and Islander Community Controlled Health Service CEO, Matthew Cooke. 

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land and sea where we live and work, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future.

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