Aboriginal Medical Services and Bourke Aboriginal Health Service

1
Bachelor of Nursing
Part 2
The Aboriginal Medical Services is a central indigenous organisation from where other
Aboriginal healthcare services and communities have stemmed. It was established in Redfern,
Sydney in 1971. The idea of setting up a separate healthcare unit for the Aboriginals appeared
when Gordon Briscoe and Shirley Smith met a man while on their field trip for Aboriginal legal
services (Browne et al. 2016). The man was so sick that he could barely talk and yet the family
members had not called upon a doctor as they would not be able to afford the treatment and
medications. Also, during this time, Australia did not have a universal healthcare scheme that
would allow them to access mainstream healthcare treatments. Inspired from this incident
Briscoe, Smith, Coe, Flower and other activists established the Aboriginal Medical Services to
provide free healthcare to the Aboriginal people.
The services provided were a holistic approach towards healthcare and started the practice of
viewing the disorders and health issues from an Aboriginal perspective, acknowledging the
paradigms and health beliefs that shaped the habits of the Aboriginal people (McMurray &
Clendon, 2015). It closely followed the principles for primary healthcare for indigenous people
and have been written as follows:
● The community is required to showcase genuine interest in the maximising the
engagement of indigenous people as a community in healthcare-related practices. It
should not be limited to only providing healthcare and treatment but should act towards
aligning the habits of aboriginals so that community health status can be improved. This
is performed by the organisation through periodic field trips and awareness activities. The
organisation also publishes information literature through handy pamphlets and booklets
to advise the people about healthcare goals.

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Bachelor of Nursing
● Collaborating with other healthcare-related organisation is of importance as this ensures
that the approach is holistic. The AMS has collaborated with a various housing
association to ensure that the problem of overcrowding in Aboriginal families can be
sorted.
● Core primary health care programs include chronic and contagious disease preventions,
vaccination programs, maternity and natal healthcare check-up and mental health care
wards.
● Evidence-based practice is a must as it helps to identify the gaps between the healthcare
activities and the desired outcome. One such evidence is the outcomes of life expectancy
among the aboriginals are lower than non-indigenous people.
● The organisation uses a multidisciplinary team which comprises of an indigenous person
who is knowledge about the lore and health practices. Other members can include a
general physician, community workers and activists, researchers and childcare specialist.
● The healthcare approaches from the AMS do not alienate the indigenous people and
allow them the achieve harmony between their practices and healthcare treatment. The
modern ways are not thrust upon them, rather many awareness programmes are held
trying to engage the aboriginal people.
● The AMS had trouble finding secured resources and funding in its first five years.
However, today receives stables funds from the government, other private communities
and volunteers.