Aboriginal Education Program Coordinator
Aboriginal Tobacco Control Project Coordinator
Peta Reynolds is an Aboriginal woman from the Walbanja Tribe, which is part of the Yuin Nation, NSW South Coast. She works as the Aboriginal Education Program Coordinator in our Cancer Education Unit. This involves supporting several programs including PapScreen Victoria, Breast Health, Men's Health and Obesity Prevention.
Peta provides guidance and support to ensure programs are targeting Aboriginal communities effectively. She also promotes the Cancer Council's services and programs within Aboriginal networks.
Her primary focus is on developing, implementing and evaluating initiatives targeting the Aboriginal community for PapScreen Victoria. This is important because we know Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 5 times more likely to die from cervical cancer than non-Aboriginal women.
To be effective, Peta needs to collaborate and work closely with Aboriginal communities, organisations, health workers and individuals across Victoria. She consults regularly with key organisations like the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), Aboriginal Health Services across Victoria, the Aboriginal Women's Health Business Unit at the Royal Women's Hospital, Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) and the Koori Health Unit at the Department of Human Services.
PapScreen has developed a range of resources to reach the Aboriginal community to ensure our key messages are heard and understood, and we regularly promote our messages in the community via media articles and advertising campaigns.
PapScreen also offers Koori Community Grants to help Victorian Aboriginal health services and organisations with the implementation of health promotion activities and information sessions on cervical screening in Aboriginal communities.
We also provide Aboriginal Health Worker training to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers, Aboriginal community health services and other health professionals working with Aboriginal communities. The training increases their confidence and gives practical advice about women's business and why it's important for women to look after themselves.
Peta Reynolds
Phone: 03 9635 5316
Email: Peta.Reynolds@cancervic.org.au
Quit Victoria has funded an Aboriginal Tobacco Control Project Coordinator position for the past 15 years. Toni Mason is a Barkindji woman from Wilcannia NSW, born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria.
Toni says:
In my role I am responsible for the development and implementation of Quit's community project targeting Aboriginal communities. I deliver Aboriginal health worker training, support Aboriginal health workers in their efforts to promote smoking cessation, and offer grants to Aboriginal health services for smoking cessation promotion.
My role also works across the Cancer Council and with other programs in their efforts in Indigenous cancer control. This includes the promotion of Cancer Council's services and programs within Aboriginal networks, and along with the Aboriginal Education Program Coordinator, providing guidance and direction for other Cancer Council units addressing Indigenous cancer control. I co-coordinate the Cancer Council's Aboriginal Health Interest Group, a small group of Cancer Council staff particularly interested in Aboriginal issues. The aim of the group is to increase the profile of Aboriginal health issues within the Cancer Council.
Smoking rates within the Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community are the highest nationally at 52%. This is of great concern considering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are dying a lot younger than the non-Indigenous population. Sixty-two per cent of deaths within the Indigenous population before the age of 65 years can be attributed to heart, stroke and vascular disease.
I work with Aboriginal organisations to increase the focus on tobacco issues within the community. Although strong emphasis should remain on raising awareness of smoking, it is also imperative to continue to encourage and support individuals to quit. In doing so I have arranged for Quitline staff to receive Cultural Awareness Training to ensure Indigenous callers will feel comfortable when speaking to a counsellor. I also update the Aboriginal community via media such as Koori Radio 3KND, about my role, new resources and changes in legislation such as smoke free pubs and clubs that came into force on 1st July 2007.
Networking and building partnerships is very important in promoting my role and that of Quit to the community. All of my projects with Aboriginal communities and individuals are run in partnership with Aboriginal community-based organisations such as Victorian Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation (VAYSAR), Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Tobacco Control (CEITC), or a government-based organisation that sources Aboriginal communities such as the Koori Health Unit at the Department of Human Services.
The Aboriginal Health Worker Training is a big part of my role as it aims to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers, Aboriginal community health services and other health professionals working with Aboriginal communities. The training is to support and assist workers and increase their confidence to give practical advice such as the effects of tobacco use, the benefits of quitting, smoking cessation strategies and the importance of protecting children from passive smoke. Quit has also produced Koori specific resources such as posters, balloons, pens and magnets to promote the Quitline to the community.
I also work with other areas within the Cancer Council to address Aboriginal Tobacco Control. I have delivered community seminars about smoking in collaboration with the Aboriginal Education Programs Coordinator and am working with the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer to produce information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescent tobacco consumption data.
Toni Mason
Phone: 03 9635 5524
Email: Toni.Mason@cancervic.org.au
