Over the weekend more than 120 health students and community members came together to participate in the first Close the Gap conference organised by the ANU Rural Medical Society.

ANU postgraduate medical student Danielle Dries said the conference aimed to increase awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and inequality with health students, health professionals and community members across ACT and NSW.

Danielle is the new Indigenous Officer for the National Rural Health Students Network, and is passionate about bringing health students together from different universities and professions.

“We hope that by bringing everyone together this will have a ripple effect with other health students. You can help Indigenous people by becoming a leader and encouraging your peers to be the same,” she said.  

The two day conference included presentations from leaders in Indigenous health, including Kylie Stothers—a Social Worker from the NT, Faye McMillan—a Pharmacist from Wagga and current Chairperson of Indigenous Allied Health Australia, Dr Buddhi Lokuge—a Public health Doctor who is co-founder EveryVoiceCounts and Dr Kali Hayward—a GP from Adelaide and Vice President of Australian Indigenous Doctors Association.

Many of the health students also participated in workshops where they learnt ways to address cultural differences and social events where they could develop networks.

“One workshop was about recognising your own personal values, and how that might impact on someone else’s values. That way you understand why conflict can occur and you can work around that conflict to eventually treat the person as a person,” Danielle said.  

“It’s really about looking at yourself and who you are, which isn’t necessarily taught in Indigenous health.

“As an Aboriginal person, I need to find out what’s appropriate if I go into another Aboriginal community. My community is different to their community and I need to find out how to behave. Like any culture, things like this should be respected.”

Close the Gap and being respectful of other cultures are both very important issues for Danielle. 

“Personally for me, Close the Gap means that my family members don’t suffer from dying early or having chronic morbidities,” Danielle said.

“And on a professional level, at my medical placement in Lisomore, I often see Aboriginal people with chronic diseases at an early age. Even in Canberra, which is meant to be one of the richest cities in the world you can see the health inequalities.”

Danielle added that to Close the Gap we all need to acknowledge that there is inequality and do something about it.

“There are heaps of things you can do, from stopping racism if you see it in your friendship group to advocating for Indigenous people in the workforce,” she said.

If you would like to get involved keep an eye out for future events run by the ANU Rural Medical Society.