Improving outcomes for older people in the Kimberley

A team of researchers accompanied by aged care advocates Noeline Brown and Sue Pieters-Hawke are visiting indigenous communities and health professionals in the Kimberley region this week to present research findings and launch a new health resource.

 

The Kimberley Healthy Adults Project – (L to R) research officer Geraldine Shadforth, project manager Kate Smith and project co-lead Professor Leon Flicker

A team of researchers and two celebrity aged care advocates are travelling in the Kimberley region this week to present findings from their research project and launch a booklet aimed at helping to improve outcomes for older people in the region.

The team of collaborative researchers, led by Melbourne Health geriatrician Associate Professor Dina LoGiudice and Winthrop Professor Leon Flicker, director of University of Western Australia’s WA Centre for Health and Ageing, have held workshops for indigenous communities and health professionals in Broome on Tuesday and Kununurra on Thursday to share findings from the Kimberley Healthy Adults Project.

Accompanying them is actress Noeline Brown, who was appointed Australia’s first Ambassador for Ageing in 2008 and reappointed for second three-year term in 2011, and author Sue Pieters-Hawke, who is co-chair of the commonwealth Government’s Dementia Advisory Group.

The guide launched at the workshops focuses on dementia, depression, pain, continence, and falls, which are the key areas identified as impacting older Aboriginal people living in the Kimberley.

The researchers have developed the easy-to-understand guide booklet based on research results, Dr LoGiudice said.

“It aims to help clinicians identify factors that contribute to increased independence and improved well-being for older people living in the region,” she said.

Kimberley Healthy Adults Project co-lead Dr Dina LoGiudice and research nurse Emily Carroll

Professor Flicker said the research team was committed to promoting research and improving the quality of lives of Australia’s culturally diverse population.

“Communicating our results with the Kimberley community is important to us and we hope that this will lead to improved health care for older people in the Kimberley,” he said.

“Those who live in regional and remote Australia often suffer poorer health and have a lower life expectancy than those who live in metropolitan areas – they have been overlooked and it is time that this was addressed.”

The Kimberley Healthy Adults Project, which was funded by a National Health and Medicine Research Council grant, included a comprehensive health survey on Aboriginal people over the age of 45 years in the town of Derby and the six remote Kimberley communities of Mowanjum, Ardyaloon, Looma, Wirramanu, Warmun and Junjuwa.

 

 

Tags: dina-logiudice, kimberley, kimberley-healthy-adults-project, leon-flicker, uwa,

Leave a Reply