Echuca Regional Health commemorated Reconciliation Week last Thursday with an afternoon tea in the hospital courtyard.
ERH chief executive officer Robyn Lindsay and local elder and Aboriginal liaison officer Sonya Parsons nee Briggs both spoke at the event.
They touched on the actions the hospital was taking to make it a more hospitable place for First Nation Australians as well recognising past struggles.
Ms Parsons spoke about implementing signage around the hospital in the Yorta Yorta language.
She said that it began by her using the alternate word for places like bathroom and hospital and that there was real interest in using these more broadly.
“I said to Robyn one day that it would be good if we had the toilet named and where they wash their hands,” she said.
“It started from there.”
Roxanne Atkinson, who helped create the language app, then came to the hospital and worked with Ms Parsons and the hospital in using the best possible translation.
Ms Parsons also talked about the grant that she had received from the Campaspe Council that had allowed her to purchase possum skins.
This is considered in the First Nations community to be a traditional way to welcome a baby to Country.
“The families could do traditional drawings on it and we would then burn them on and if the mum didn’t have family to help her do that then one of the elders would step in,” she said.
Ms Lindsay said ERH, like most health services, had an unfortunate history of not providing culturally safe care and “this is another step forward to fixing that”.
She said that it was important to stop at this time of year and reflect on the history and work on ways to move forward together.
Ms Lindsay said programs like the possum skin project and the implementation of the signage were ways of doing this.