RAHC Clinical Project Officer Mahalah recently attended the National Rural Health Alliance’s 16th Conference. This year’s theme was Bridging social distance; Rural health innovating and collaborating. It focused on connecting divides in Australia’s public health environment and highlighted opportunities to collaborate and share innovations that strengthen the rural health system.
As the Clinical Project Officer, Mahalah is significantly involved in RAHC’s eLearning program, particularly in website administration and module development. This conference was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the role of technology in remote health.
“There were many important discussions about the use of technology in overcoming the geographical challenges of rural and remote healthcare, utilising telehealth, eLearning and online tools,” said Mahalah.
“Hearing about how others are developing their eLearning programs, undertaking virtual training and providing other online resources for health professionals provided great inspiration for innovating RAHC’s eLearning program.”
“In the face of critical shortages and maldistribution of health professionals, we consistently returned to the topic of workforce retention and innovation throughout the conference. Many delegates shared their perspectives on the factors responsible for health professionals falling in love with rural and remote work, as well as recognising the barriers to working in these uniquely challenging environments,” she continued.
Mahalah was particularly fascinated by the connection between environmental public health, climate change and rural health. Noting evidence suggests that the health of regional, rural and remote Australians would be disproportionately affected by climate change and, therefore, recognising the connection between human wellbeing and the health of country.
However, Stan Grant’s keynote speech was her personal highlight of the conference.
“Having participated in the recent Garma festival in East Arnhem Land, he reflected on the sense of cautious but “palpable optimism” surrounding the federal government’s commitment to the Uluru Statement of the Heart and a national referendum to enshrine a First Nation’s voice in the Australian constitution. Touching on the theme of social distance, he spoke of the impact of the history of geographical and social distancing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from family, community and culture, as well as from mainstream society,” Mahalah said.
Visit https://www.ruralhealth.org.au to learn more about the National Rural Health Alliance.