Sue Irvin and Lynn Lee from the NTGPE Alice Springs office have recently commenced remote community visits in Central Australia, the aim being to initially travel to those communities that have NTGPE accommodation in preparation for a new cohort of John Flynn medical students in up and coming months.

Titjikala and Yuelamu have been their destinations so far and whilst it has been beneficial to view the accommodations, stock up supplies and complete housing inventories and condition reports, the real value has been the working relationships they have been able to develop with clinic staff and other community stakeholders. They were warmly welcomed by Clinic Managers Marcelle Keenan (Titjikala) and Fiona Steel (Yuelamu) who, like them, were keen to put ‘faces to names’. The Clinic Managers spoke enthusiastically about their previous experiences with medical students and made a solid commitment to future John Flynn students, booking in a number of placements for the rest of this year – a fantastic outcome.

After leaving Yuelamu they made a quick stop at Yuemdumu to meet the new clinic manager Jeanie Calma and to view the ANU accommodation utilised for ‘John Flynners’. Senior Administrator Sue Irvin said, “It is so good to now be able to visualise the communities/clinics and we now feel better equipped to answer the many questions from eager med students”.

Next on Sue and Lynn’s list is Aputula (Finke), Urapuntja (Utopia) and Ampilatwatja (pronounced um-bludder-watch). They also hope to head north up the highway to Tennant Creek and Elliott to take the opportunity to call into other clinics along the way for a ‘meet and greet’.

Marcelle Keenan, Clinic Manager and Lynn Lee, NTGPE at Titjikala Health Centre, July 2012

The hard working and passionate efforts and achievements of some truly dedicated NT medical and educational professionals have not gone unnoticed, with the following nominations made:

GPET/Medical Observer GP Supervisor of the Year:
Dr Angela Woltmann (Medical Director, Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation, Nhulunbuy)

GPET/MIMS Medical Educator of the Year:
Dr Christine Lesnikowski (ME, NTGPE, Alice Springs)

GPET/Ochre Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Training:
NTGPE Cultural Education Team

Dr Angela Woltmann has shown an ongoing commitment to the East Arnhem region of the NT throughout her career, culminating in the recent expansion of the number of PGPPP and GP Registrar placements at Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation (Miwatj) in East Arnhem at a variety of locations including Gove and Elcho Island.

Having originally travelled to Gove as a GP Registrar in the early 1990s, Angela returned to country in 2009 with a longer term commitment to improving health in the region. This strong commitment resulted in her becoming the Medical Director at Miwatj in 2010 and through that role helping to extend the original 1992 Miwatj Board vision for community control health services for the Miwatj region.

Angela is an experienced GP (FACRRM and FRACGP), has been involved with supervising GPs and medical students and has been an RACGP examiner for several years. Although Registrars and medical students have been supervised at Miwatj for many years, Angela has facilitated expansion of this capability and increased the opportunities for Junior Doctors (PGPPP) to discover the rich cultural heritage of the region and the challenges inherent in improving health outcomes in the region. Angela has also been able to support Ngalkanbuy Health Service on Elcho Island in her Supervisor role.

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Having originally trained as a GP Anesthetist in the NT, completing her training in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs including remote and retrieval work, Dr Christine Lesnikowski settled in Alice Springs where she now lives with her family. Although it is more than 60 years since A Town Like Alice was written, many of the features encountered by its protagonist are those that Dr Lesnikowski has faced and conquered as a remote and often geographically isolated Medical Educator.

Christine has worked as a Medical Educator with NTGPE since 2004 providing education to both her local Registrars as well as all NT Registrars by distance learning. In that time she has become a stalwart of the NTGPE family – providing stability, advice and leadership in the Central Australian region. Her commitment to the region and to education have meant that the program has grown locally with registrars, staff and supervisors provided 1:1 medical education support.

Amongst Registrars, Christine is known for the time she dedicates to learners ensuring that each of the local registrars is supported to achieve their learning needs, but also supporting their social and family needs. Recently this has included supporting a number of International Medical Graduates who have come to Alice Springs, new to the NT. Registrars have greatly appreciated her input, support and nurturing style, which has lead to them having a local weekly group meetings with Christine where she provides tailored small group learning and pastoral care with an added ‘cup of tea’.

From an RTP perspective Christine has been a crucial part of the organization’s ability to provide ongoing education across the vast area of the NT. With the distinct differences between the Top End and the Red Centre, NTGPE’s success has relied on local GP and ME knowledge to better understand how best to train and support learners and educators. In the Alice region Christine has led the provision of local knowledge and insight into the wide range of GP and Primary Health Care models in the region. Christine has also mentored other local Supervisors and Educators to join the team and has represented GPs locally on a number of Boards.

Christine has ensured that the local community of Central Australia has a voice, and advocate and an educator who has ensured that their issues have been addressed, their GP Registrars supported and the NTGPE Education team strengthened and truly regionally based.

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The Cultural Education team at NTGPE is composed of four key Cultural Educators, together with supporting Medical Educators and Administrative Staff. Over the last year they have been challenged by NTGPE to embed cultural education and Indigenous Health training as a core part of every learner’s and stakeholder’s participation with NTGPE. These challenges set by the organisation included:

• The requirement for all GP Registrars at NTGPE to undertake Indigenous Health Training posts as part of their training

• The introduction of a new PGPPP support program including Balint style reflective teleconference with Cultural Educator input

• The inclusion of a Cultural Educator at all ECTVs undertaken in a predominantly Aboriginal Health setting

The team has risen to these challenges and with the addition of new cultural educators, medical educators and a new program manager have strongly supported these local initiatives and ensured that they have had meaningful input in the delivery of these initiatives.

Whilst embracing these changes the team has been locally recognised for the high quality of the cultural orientation training they deliver to all staff and learners. They have become sought after to deliver training to a wide range of external health groups including Remote Area Health Corps and Careflight NT. By supplying these clinicians with this quality of cultural education they are ensuring that the Aboriginal communities of the NT and their health care delivery is undertaken in a way that not only supports the training programs but more importantly the communities and Aboriginal people receiving care.

The reputation of the team has extended outside the walls of the wider health community and they have being approached to provide cultural education to other non-health bodies. Through this there are now cultural education programs and contracts with NT Government Department of Business; NT Department of Public Prosecutions; Dept Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and more recently DoHA. These contracts include cultural education and specific workshops around communication skills.