[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]9 December
This week, the @IPCHealth_au team covered #HeatwaveHealth and a related #CroakeyGO. See a summary of the tweets here.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]2 December
This week, the @CroakeyNews team previewed the #CroakeyGO on #HeatwaveHealth.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]25 November
Keziah Bennett-Brook – @Keziah_bb – Manager of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program at The George Institute for Global Health covered the 14th Australasian Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Conference, at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia, 25 – 27 November 2019.
With a theme of Pushing the Boundaries, this conference challenged the traditional injury prevention paradigms to examine future disruptions and opportunities for injury prevention. This was explored through innovative technologies and changing digital societies, and new multisectoral strategies for partnerships across government portfolios, clinicians, practitioners, industry, researchers and community. 
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]18 November
Australian Indigenous Health InfoNet shared numerous resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health, using the hashtag #YourHealthInfoNet.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]11 November
Dr George Crisp – @DrGCrisp – a Perth doctor, who lectures and writes on environmental health, air pollution, and climate change, is covering the #ClimateCrisis. 
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]4 November
Researcher Elissa Elvidge – @ElissaElvidge – covered the @LIME__Network conference in Aeotearoa: Pouhine Poutama Embedding Indigenous Health Education conference. LIME is the Leaders in Indigenous Medical Education Network, and supports teaching and learning of Indigenous health in medical and health education. Elissa is a PhD candidate developing an Aboriginal Cultural Safety and Security Framework for NSW hospitals.
Dr Kelvin Kong: Described some of the main challenges – current focus is on growing & building capacity of Indigenous workforce. Also the need to create an organisational culture that supports and encourages individuals 2 provide more #CulturalSafe and responsive care
There is a need 4 organisations 2 look in the mirror and reflect on what they represent and what they r trying to achieve. By having a power base of Indigenous members who are able 2 take part in important conversations in a meaningful way #CriticalConsciousness #CulturalSafety
Part of this requires recognising & addressing the privilege & inequity that occurs in the application process. Helping Indigenous Drs 2 navigate those governance processes. + recent inclusion of specific Indigenous health competency! Embedding #CulturalSafety in2 curriculum 
Tweets from the presentation above:
#CulturalSafety is more nuanced as it centres on power differentials b/t patients & practitioners particularly if they r from a marginalised community. It is defined by the recipient of care & can change depending on context. Being open2 teachable moments
Requires an understanding of whiteness, equity, institutional racism & intersectionality. Health care providers should be willing 2 be reflexive & responsive 2 patient & family needs. Willing 2 engage in critical self reflection = critical consciousness.
Tweets from the presentation above:
We as teachers need 2 help them 2 develop & learn from that discomfort in order 2 unravel those feeling & relate them 2 the real world experiences of marginalised & oppressed people. Humility & self reflection r important skills 4 clinicians #TeachableMoment #CulturalSafety
Self reflection & alterity r important skills- e.g when giving patient & families bad news or asking 4 sensitive information= more effective empathetic communication. Studies show it also benefits clinicians with debriefing & encourages resilience + quality care
Do Not apologise the discomfort -prepare them for it & acknowledge it. We can let them choose their own level of discomfort- each will have unique experiences that they bring- starting points individual / reactions/ reflections. That’s ok & necessary part of learning
There is also a need 2 teach staff #CulturalSafety– if students are getting conflicting messages about Indigenous people then what they learn becomes diluted and confusing. Education should be top down in order 2 be effective.
Hospital staff need education2 – if new graduates go into faccilites and the environment and culture arround them is racist- these teachings will become lost. 4 #CulturalSafety 2 be effectively embeded vertical and horizontal learning is required.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]28 October
Croakey Conference News Service journalist Marie McInerney covered the three-day Listen Up, Listen Louder conference, hosted by the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC), the state’s peak consumer body. It was a timely event, coinciding with interim reports from both the Productivity Commission inquiry into mental health and the Royal Commission into aged care. As well, Victoria’s Royal Commission will release its interim report in late November. See stories from #VMIAC2019.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]21 October
A team from @AIHI_MQ – the Australian Institute of Health Innovation – shared the news from #ISQua2019 – the 36th International Society for Quality in Health Care conference in Cape Town South Africa, with the title Innovate, implement, improve: beating the drum for safety, quality and equity.
Why is patient safety now listed as one of WHO’s top priorities? By most estimates, there’s a one in a million chance of being harmed in a plane crash—while not entirely reassuring, that figure is hardly likely to stop most people from booking a flight. But what about taking a loved one to hospital? WHO estimates that worldwide there’s a one in 300 chance of being harmed during any form of healthcare. In Australia, where we have more than 11 million hospitalisations per year, that figure is about one in ten. Researchers from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation are focussed on understanding that figure and finding ways to reduce it while also ensuring safe, equitable access to healthcare for all Australians and informing reform efforts around the world. ISQua is a member-based, not-for-profit community and organisation dedicated to promoting quality improvement in healthcare. The network includes members from more than 70 countries and 6 continents.
The Australian Institute of Health Innovation, based at Macquarie University in Sydney, has an absolute commitment to improving healthcare services and systems in Australia and beyond. We aim to create world-class, high-impact research that makes a difference for patients, health professionals and society more broadly. We are a research-intensive organisation located within the unique campus of MQ Health at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. MQ Health is Australia’s first fully integrated academic health sciences centre, combing excellence in clinical care with teaching and research.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]14 October
@GroundSwellAus and @PHPalCare tweeted from #PHPCI2019 – the 6th Public Health Palliative Care International Conference, held from 13 – 16 October in the Blue Mountains in NSW, with the title: Compassionate Communities in Action: Re-claiming Ageing, Dying and Grieving. A public health approach to end of life care views the community as an equal partner in the long and complex task of providing quality healthcare at the end of life. There is now a significant body of evidence about the public health approach, and this conference signals a new era for international research and practices. The Public Health Palliative Care International Conference brought together leading practitioners, researchers and innovators from across the world. Co-hosted by The GroundSwell Project, Western Sydney University and Public Health Palliative Care, it was the first time the conference had been held in the southern hemisphere – it recognises the innovative practices, policies and funding models that are emerging such as compassionate communities, person centred care, and primary health. The conference was timely as governments and citizens work towards the right care being provided to the right people in the right place and at the right time. 
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]7 October
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]30 September
Dr Holly Northam OAM – @hollynortham – from the University of Canberra profiled #RestorativeHealthCare. Northam brings over 30 years of clinical experience to her research and teaching practice. She has a strong social justice focus that is underpinned by her professional identity as a nurse and midwife. Her PhD study, Hope for a peaceful death and organ donation, identified that more must be done to alleviate suffering caused by communication failures in healthcare. She played an instrumental role in setting up and running the ACT Organ and Tissue Donation Service and has been recognised for her expertise in this specialisation. Northam’s research and teaching approaches are framed using the lens of hope and restorative practice to identify and support vulnerable people in health settings. 
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]23 September
This week, the @CroakeyNews team shared stories and reflections from the #CoveringClimateNow initiative:
About to wrap up our RT-ing this week of the #CoveringClimateNow news-feed with a few key articles and reflections. (But please keep following the hashtag as we and others are continuing to publish articles as part of this global media collaboration).
This story from CBS News was not part of the #CoveringClimateNow as such, but provides important context for the discussions: How North America lost nearly three billion birds over the last 50 years.
I find it hard to fathom numbers and losses like these. Where should we focus our attention/action/energy when there is so much terrible news about the state of planetary health?
The climate crisis entails so much injustice at so many levels. This is one powerful example, from Bhutan:
While the rest of the world is struggling to reduce its carbon emissions, Bhutan has long achieved and maintained its ‘carbon negative’ status. The majority of its electricity comes from hydropower, and over 70% of the country comprises protected forests.
As per the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit’s “carbon comparator” tool, its forests absorb at least three times the amount its population emits”. But of course that does not protect the country and its people.”
On related, listen to environmentalist and former Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay on the devastating implications of glacier melting in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region for one-fifth of humanity.
He says:
If you can’t care for those affected by the melting of glaciers then you should at least care for yourselves…That’s because the Hindu Kush Himalaya region…is like the pulse of the planet. The entire planet will eventually suffer.”
Why should the rest of the world care? Former Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay raises the prospect of conflict over water, and political destabilisation in a region with three nuclear powers.
As part of the #CoveringClimateNow initiative, at Croakey, we have been seeking to bring the hashtag into wider conversations, in order to share stories/ideas/connections across different Twitter threads and groups. #ConnectiveTheory
As we did with this story: ACT upstages the federal government with low-cost carbon policy.
This story is also a reminder of the importance of having some focus on solutions in our coverage.
#CoveringClimateNow has also been an opportunity for critique, reflection and examination of media and journalism practices around the climate crisis, and it’s been informative to follow some of these conversations around the world.
As an aside, was this the best headline about the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate? Climate change: UN panel signals red alert on ‘Blue Planet’.
The BBC reported: “In a nutshell, the waters are getting warmer, the world’s ice is melting rapidly, and these have implications for almost every living thing on the planet.”
It is clearly no time for business as usual. As you may have seen, we have launched a campaign to raise funds for public interest journalism to put a sustained focus on health and the climate crisis – please support if you can.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]16 September
This week, a tag team of guest tweeters from the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in the Social Determinants of Health Equity tweeted from #CREHealthEquity, the Centre’s final policy symposium, titled Promoting health equity: From knowing to action. They also covered #AustPH2019, the 50th anniversary conference of the Public Health Association of Australia, the #climatestrike in Adelaide, and a People’s Health Movement event, including a tribute to the late Professor David Sanders. Guest tweeters included @BelTownsend @baumfran @SharonFrielOz @drtobyfreeman. (Read more from #AustPH2019 here).
