First Nations health workforce

I'm Kylie.

I'm a good jewel woman from the Burdakin down Charlottes Towers region.

I chose to be a midwife because as an Aboriginal health worker, even though that's a valuable role, it you got, you didn't get to see more of the clinical side as what the midwife does.

So I was like, I want to be the midwife, I want to be there birthing the baby, I want to be there caring for the woman antenatally and post natally and making a difference in their life in the community.

I look after women doing antenatal and post Natal.

So I usually start my day in contacting women and then scheduled appointments.

They come and visit me and then I often go out and visit women during the day.

There's also many other aspects of it, talking to the doctors, following up results, following up scans, chasing women to see if they've done their bloods and just generally engaging with them.

I spoke to so many midwives and they're like, oh, you may as well do your midwifery.

I'm like, OK, yeah, no problem.

And it was just that it was flexible enough that I could work and study at the same time.

So as an Aboriginal midwife, I know that it made a difference in these women's lives, but you don't necessarily get told.

But then, then those women will like a couple of years down the track or a couple of months, they'll send you an updated photo of their baby.

And it's like, oh, that's so nice that you thought of me on this occasion, you know, and then you know that you did make a difference in their lives.

We need more Aboriginal and trust right under midwives because the women during research and discussions with community are wanting to have Aboriginal midwives in this space.

They don't want to be seen by a non indigenous midwife that doesn't know the cultural protocols around birthing and they want to know that they're going to be culturally safe in that space after becoming a midwife.

Like so many opportunities, so many opportunities and then when you see you've made the difference to people's lives, it's all worthwhile.

For anyone considering a career as a midwife, I would strongly recommend it.

It's a most rewarding career looking after our mob. 

Hi, I'm Jacob. 

I'm proud Gomory man from Tamworth. 

My family's from a little mission known as Corona mission, about 40 minutes from Tamworth and I'm an Aboriginal health worker here in Tamworth. 

So how I got into this role, I'm actually at school, I did a school based traineeship for my HSC years in business administration on the medical side. 

So I was able to work at the hospital with that. 

This job sort of presented itself to me about 3 1/2 years ago and I was again able to train. 

So I started to search for in Aboriginal Primary Health care practise, you know when I started this job and I'm still in it today. 

I think the big inspiration for me is my mum and my nan, so they're both Aboriginal health workers as well. 

My Nan's since passed on, but she actually started the the health post out on the mission where she was born and I actually get to work out there once a month and do my clinics out there, which I think's really close to home for me. 

My mum as well has also been working in health for 25 plus years. 

So something that's great about my role is being able to sort of get out in the community, attend events such as Maydock events, do outreach clinics and have the flexibility to return stuff like sorry business, which is I think really important for MOB. 

I think it's one of the most important things for MOB to see MOB when they're attending healthcare facilities, you know, having that first sort of sort of connection for people, I think really for a client or a patient perspective, put people at ease and, you know, you can open up about things that you wouldn't otherwise open up to a mainstream service about. 

I think my career as an Aboriginal health worker is really rewarding. 

You know, I get to go to work every day working with MOB, working with people, you know, and hopefully making an impact on their health journey. 

I've seen them from the start to the finish. 

I think yeah, it's the most rewarding part for anyone looking to get into primary care. 

I say get started, you know, get into it. 

You can make an impact for your mob, for our mob, and you can leave a legacy, a long lasting legacy.