Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Well-Being

Closing the gap is a government project specifically initiated for reducing the disadvantages that the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders face in relation to education, child mortality, education achievement and even access to health. By using the affirmative action approach, the program ensures that the marginalized communities can access these services regardless of the disadvantaged location that they come from.

Running head: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES PEOPLES’ WELL-BEING 1
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Well-Being
Student’s Name
University

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES’ WELL-BEING 2
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Well-Being
Closing the gap is a government project specifically initiated for reducing the
disadvantages that the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders face in relation to education,
child mortality, education achievement and even access to health. By using the affirmative action
approach, the program ensures that the marginalized communities can access these services
regardless of the disadvantaged location that they come from (Australian Indigenous Health
Infonet, 2019). This is the reason why Matt’s mother was assisted to travel and given
accommodation when in real sense she could not afford. Thus this program offers support to the
marginal communities and assists them to ensure that they are able to access the services that
other non-indigenous groups access easily.
i. The differences between the ‘Close the Gap’ campaign, and the ‘Closing the Gap’
Australian governments’ policy framework.
Closing the gap is a government initiative for reducing the challenges the indeginous
people face in different areas of life. This is seen as a formal commitment that is made by all
Australian governments through policies that seek to reduce the challenges that the people face
(Thompson, Gee, & Talley, 2018). This was started in 2007 when the Council of Australian
Governments (COAG) all committed to meeting the specific needs of the indigenous people.
Since then, the governments have committed to different reforms, policies, and initiatives that
seek to address the needs of the people. This strategy is based on the vision 2030 strategy that
will ensure that equality will have been achieved by 2030.
On the other hand, close the gap entails different campaign initiatives that are developed
to address indigenous needs. Georges, Guthridge, Condon, Barnes, & Zhao (2017) argues that
every year, there is a new closing the gap campaign that focusses on addressing specific issues

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for this population. These campaigns are built on evidence that shows the significant
improvement made in closing the gap and developing strategies for addressing the gap to ensure
that the objective will be achieved by 2030 (Barden, 2016). For example in 2018, the Close the
Gap initiative released a 10-year review that presented the gaps that have made it difficult to
achieve the initiative by 20230.
Therefore, closing the gap is ratified by all governments and committed to ensuring that
the gap is reduced. This entails policies and reforms that are made by different governments to
meet the requirements by 2030. On the hand, close the gap is an initiative that entails different
interest groups within Australia that have come together to focus on addressing the issues that
the indigenous people face in the country. Thus, close the gap is an initiative that seeks to ensure
that closing gap strategies are achieved by Australian governments.
ii. Explain what the AHRC Close the Gap 2018 report refers to in its fifth major finding,
as the ‘funding myth about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health’.
According to The Lowitja Institute for the Close the Gap Steering Committee (2018), the
funding myth about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health is based in the fact that many
people and policymakers feel that dedication of health expenditure on the specific needs of these
people is a waste of taxpayers’ money. The same myth is held by one of the young nurses in the
case study who felt that these populations are getting everything and not being treated like the
rest of the population. This myth is thus based on the fact that the indigenous people should not
get any specialized care but rather need to be treated like the rest of the population. This has been
the challenge in closing the gap since this challenges the efforts of the initiative by acting as a
barrier to reducing the gap. If health expenditure is supposed to be based on the burden of
disease, then every indigenous person is supposed to get 2.3 times as compared to the non-

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indigenous. This is because the indigenous population has a higher disease burden as compared
to the rest of the population and thus people should not complain about the extra funding that
they receive but rather they should support disease burden funding so that populations can be
funded based on the challenges that they have.
Thomas, Bainbridge, & Tsey (2015) argue that patient-centered approaches insist on
tailoring health care to reflect the needs of the patient. This means that the government needs to
reinvest in healthcare so that the indigenous population can enjoy more benefits from health
funding. In most cases, public healthcare funding is limited thus forcing the Aboriginals and
Torres populations to rely on private health to meet their complex needs. Therefore, this myth
needs to be addressed by ensuring that people understand the disease burden that the indigenous
population has and the need to adjust the funding system to reflect these differences.
iii. Define the term ‘patient escort’, and discuss the common challenges that they may
face
Patient escorts are people who provide escort services to patients who need help moving
around. In most cases, these people can be freelancers or specialized organizations that provide
the services at a fee. This means that the people must have medical knowledge like providing
basic first aid services in case the patient develops complications along the way. Thus, these
people are important in situations where there is limited personnel making it difficult for the
patient to receive medical assistance (Nkosi, et al., 2013). One major challenge is caring for
patients in different environments when being transported. In some cases, patients are affected
by different environments like reduced atmospheric pressure when on the flight and even rough
terrain when using the road. These environments threaten the health of the patient, can lead to
harm and even other complications which make it difficult for the patient to cope. Thus, an

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understanding of the patient situation is important so that proper factors can be put in place to
address the challenges that they face.
Another challenge that patient escorts face is the appropriateness of transfer or escort of
patients. In most cases, the escort means are limited making it difficult for the escort to choose
the best means that fits the needs of the patient. The fact that resources are limited and the patient
may lack the ability to afford the special care that reflects their needs means that the escort may
have difficulty escorting the patient due to the ineffectiveness of the means of transport (Nkosi,
et al., 2013). If proper care is not put in place, the escort can lead to more harm to the patient.
Further, hospitals are limited to the level of care and support that they give to their patients
which makes it difficult for escort teams to manage the conditions of the patients that they deal
with. This means that sometimes specialized services that meet the individualized needs of the
patients are difficult to find.
iv. Explain the role of the Aboriginal/Indigenous Hospital Liaison Officer and explain how
this role may support the delivery of culturally safe care to both Matt and his mother.
Ballestas, McEvoy, Swift-Otero, & Unsworth (2014) state that hospital liaison officers
play an important role of ensuring that the rights of the patient are met, here, they provide advice
to the patients and at the same time act as the link between patient and care providers. When
presenting themselves to healthcare professionals, patients provide varying healthcare needs that
require the intervention of liaison officers so that the patients’ needs can be understood and met.
For example, indigenous patients have difficulty communicating due to language barriers and
thus the liaison officer steps in such situations to assist patients and professionals overcome the
problem. Thus an Aboriginal liaison officer will be in charge of ensuring that the needs and
rights of the specific patient are achieved within healthcare settings.

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The role such officer is to act as a link between healthcare professionals and the specific
needs of indigenous patients. They play the role of breaking down any perceived barriers to
communication barriers to allow the professional to develop individualized care that reflects the
needs of the patient (Durey, et al., 2016). This service also includes coordinating travel and
communication consulting with staff and patients to seek further information on the needs and
history of the patient, facilitating referral of patients, provide information and support and lastly
providing education to healthcare professionals to help in understanding the needs of the
indigenous people. Thus, in this case, the liaison officer will assist in ensuring that Matt accesses
all the specialized care that is available for Matt and his mother. Through face to face contact
with the patient, the liaison officer will ensure that the conditions of the patient are understood
and measures are put in place to address the individual needs of Matt and at the same time put
measures in place for discharge, accommodation, and travel for both Matt and his mother to
allow them to go back home easily.
Conclusion
Closing the gap is a government initiative for bridging the inequality gap between
indigenous people and the rest of the population. This calls for specialized medical care options
that will focus on meeting the needs of this population. Despite the funding myth and other
challenges that are reported, there are advances in meeting the needs of this population. This
means that indigenous liaison officers need to be empowered so that they can ensure the needs of
the indigenous people are enhanced within the healthcare setting to bridge the gaps. Without
focusing on addressing challenges that the people face, it will be difficult to meet the vision 2030
projection.

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References
Australian Indigenous HealthInfonet. (2019). Closing the gAP. Retrieved from Australian
Indigenous HealthInfonet: https://healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/learn/health-system/closing-
the-gap/
Ballestas, T., McEvoy, S., Swift-Otero, V., & Unsworth, M. (2014). A metropolitan Aboriginal
podiatry and diabetes outreach clinic to ameliorate foot-related complications in
Aboriginal people. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 38(5), 492-
495.
Barden, D. (2016). 10 Years On: Just How Close Are We To Closing The Gap? HuffPost.
Durey, A., McEvoy, S., Swift-Otero, V., Taylor, K., Katzenellenbogen, J., & Bessarab, D.
(2016). Improving healthcare for Aboriginal Australians through effective engagement
between community and health services. BMC Health Service Research, 16(224).
Georges, N., Guthridge, S., Condon, J., Barnes, T., & Zhao, Y. (2017). Progress in closing the
gap in life expectancy at birth for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, 1967-
2012. Medical Journal of Australia, 207(1), 25-30.
Nkosi, D., Janssen, S., Padanilam, X., Louw, R., Menezes, C. N., & Grobusch, M. P. (2013).
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The Lowitja Institute for the Close the Gap Steering Committee. (2018). Close The Gap - 10
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Thomas, D. P., Bainbridge, R., & Tsey, K. (2015). Changing discourses in Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander health research, 1914-2014. Medical Journal of Australia, 201(1), 15-18.

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Thompson, G. N., Gee, C., & Talley, N. J. (2018). Indigenous Health: One Gap is Closed.
Medical Journal of Australia, 1, 14-15.