HSC203 - Indigenous Health Case Study: Lowitja O'Donoghue's Journey

This case study delves into the health journey of Lowitja O'Donoghue, a prominent Aboriginal Australian public figure and advocate for Indigenous rights. It highlights her early life challenges, including being separated from her mother and facing nutritional deficiencies, which significantly impacted her health and fueled her dedication to improving healthcare access for Aboriginal communities. The study examines her work as a nurse, activist, and leader, focusing on her efforts to address health disparities, promote cultural awareness, and advocate for policy changes. It also discusses the cultural beliefs and practices within Indigenous communities that affect health outcomes. The Lowitja Institute, named in her honor, stands as a testament to her lasting legacy in advancing Indigenous health research and well-being. The document concludes by emphasizing her role as an inspiration for future generations and the importance of media attention to Indigenous health issues. Desklib provides students with access to this and other solved assignments.

Running head: STORY ON AN INDIGENOUS PERSON'S HEALTH JOURNEY.
STORY ON AN INDIGENOUS PERSON’S HEALTH JOURNEY
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1STORY ON AN INDIGENOUS PERSON’S HEALTH JOURNEY
This article evaluates a famous public figure Lowitja O’ Donoghue’s health journey.
She is a famous aboriginal Australian public administrator and former chairperson of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Commission in 1990-1996 (Herring et al., 2013).
Aboriginal people are those who have originally inhabited the land from the earliest time or
before the arrival of the communists. This people of this community live less than the normal
people due to lack of medical attention and education. Lowitja O' Donoghue took training for
the nursing after a long struggle, and she became the first aboriginal nurse of Australia. She
dedicated her life towards the welfare of these poor and less concerned aboriginal
communities. She worked tirelessly for her people and the communities (Anderson et al.,
2016).
The aboriginal communities are primarily the native people of Australia with cultural
and social values. These communities have many cultural practices that affect them in
negative ways. However, they are less concerned about their health and do not have many
facilities for their health requirements. The following paragraphs will explain the
achievements of her through her acts and health journey of Lowitja O’ Donoghue, the
sufferings she has faced due to lack of concerns in the aboriginal community. The paragraphs
also detail about how she had struggled through her life to put values and to provide medical
attention in the presence of the indigenous people (Kisely, 2017).
Lowitja O' Donoghue is a famous personality of Australia mainly known for her
continuous efforts for the welfare of the aboriginal people and the community. She was born
in1932 in the isolated indigenous community of indulkana (Ware, 2013). She is a daughter of
an iris father and Yankunytjatjara mother. She received many awards for her works; she was
named Australian of the year in 1984 and was appointed the member of the order of Australia
in1977. She won a national living treasure award in 1988. She was also awarded as the
commander of the order of the British Empire in 1983 and announced as the honorary fellow
of the Royal Australian College of the physician (Moore et al., 2015). Like any other
aboriginal girls, Lowitja also started to work as a nurse at the age of sixteen. She was
enthusiastic to work as a nurse in a local nursing home to aid the needy people. In the year
1950, she finally began to act as the activist on behalf of the aboriginal rights. She was
initially rejected for nursing because she was an aboriginal (Oliver, 2013). However, she
fought the decision and became the first native nurse of Australia. After the death of her
husband, she became more increasingly involved in the organizations that are working
towards the advancements of the aboriginal rights. She became the public speaker and
continued to work hard in a committee after receiving many awards. She is a benefactor of
many health, social justice and welfare organizations.
Indigenous Aboriginal people are less aware of the health concerns of the real world
disease. Lowitja O’ Donoghue herself began her journey in a bush. According to her,
childbirth in the bush is a common practice in the culture of the aboriginal people. This
tradition was inherited from her great grandmothers (Briskman et al., 2014). This process can
connect the children with the roots of the earth and thus make them prosperous which is the
common myth of these people. Lowitja o' donoghue stated that children are precious to these
aboriginal people as they continue the link between the aboriginal ancestries and the
spirituality. They believe their hope of the future depends on the children. They experience
the early arrival of chronic diseases due to the lack of concerns about their health
requirements. Data shows that the rate of mortality among the Indigenous people is more than

2STORY ON AN INDIGENOUS PERSON’S HEALTH JOURNEY
normal Australian people. Indigenous women are often married at a small age, and they give
birth at a very early age. This reason is sufficient for escalating the death rate of the children
and the women the women and the children tend to suffer from serious malnutrition problem.
The lowitja Institute which is Australia’s national institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander health research was named after her in 2010, to provide health and wellbeing of
Australia’s First people through effective and excellence research strategies (Percival, 2016).
The Aboriginal people are not much educated about the impact of their lifestyle on their
health (Briskman, 2014). There are many cultural and social believes which indirectly
impacts the health of these people. However, these harmful practices are their ways to
practise their spiritualism, and this inhibits them to stop the practice. Lowitja O’ Donoghue,
being one of them tried to educate them about these problems.
Lowitja O’ Donoghue as an aboriginal born, she faced poor mental and physical
challenges, and due to lack of nutrition as well as mental support in the primary time of her
life (Anderson, 2016). Lowitja O’ Donoghue was born in wilds due to their cultural beliefs,
which is believed to be very health hazardous to any newborn babies. However, she did not
get any infection or any other health hazards due to this. She had more than five siblings, as
there were not many sources of food available they were often left undernutrition. She was
taken away from her mother at the age of two by the government to provide proper nutrition
and proper education as the community was poor. Being away from her mother made her
mentally depressed, she was not allowed to talk to her mother until the age of 33. Reuniting
with her mother was at the centre of Lowitja O’ Donoghue’s life. Being depressed and
undernutrition person, it was difficult for her to fulfil any achievements. She used to live in
an isolated area where there was no schooling her guardians were very worried about the
schooling. However, she got a chance to study in a missionary school. After numerous
difficulties, Lowitja O’ Donoghue succeeded to finish her schooling, and after that, she took
admission to nursing schools. However, the health issues of her community and people left a
mark on her mind, which lead her to decide to dedicate her time to the health development
rights of her people and her community. She married a medical orderly of the repatriation
hospital named Gordon Smart in 1979 and became Lowitja O’ Donoghue Smart (Clifford et
al., 2015). They had no children as a result of the malnutrition in her childhood. Her
childhood affected her and her surroundings very much; in fact, her whole life was based on
the impact of the early images of her childhood (Paul, Ewen & Jones 2014). She was so
influenced by the health problems found in the aboriginal people that she dedicate her life
towards the welfare of her community and people. Lowitja worked day and night for the
improvement of health policies. She fought for the rights of these poor and less opportune
people. She worked as an Australian activist for these people. Lack of nutrition causes her too
much of health problems in her older age. She had several bone and heart issues. This lets her
more close to the health problems of the aboriginal people (Leavy et al., 2014). To overcome
the malnutrition problem and to provide health care for the other people in need was not easy
according to her. She stated in a news platform that there are very few numbers of laws that
are made for the betterment of the community (Briskman, 2014). She actively raised her
voice for more updating of the rules and regulations that can help the Aboriginal Indigenous
people for becoming more aware of the health concerns related to their cultural practices and
spiritualism.

3STORY ON AN INDIGENOUS PERSON’S HEALTH JOURNEY
This can be concluded from the above story that Lowitja O’ Donoghue Smart, is an
evidence of positive thinking and health care activists that should gain notice b]y the young
generation (Bainbridge et al., 2015). The indigenous people are not always in media
highlight. The media should support this type of stories and activities in order to influence the
health and mental welfare of these poor people. There are many indigenous activists in
Australia fight for the rights of their community, but Lowitja O’ Donoghue Smart is well
known among them. She has done endlessly for her people. She has dedicated all her life to
find the ways to improve the lifestyle and cultural value in order to remove the gap between
this poor community and the rest of Australia. Lowitja O’ Donoghue Smart received many
valuable awards and prestigious positions in Australia as well as in the world for her efforts
and thoughts.

4STORY ON AN INDIGENOUS PERSON’S HEALTH JOURNEY
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