1. We need to have a chat about that!
Bringing social equity to the student conversation
Michael Douglas,
University Centre for Rural Health, Lismore NSW

2. Conflict of Interest
• No conflict of interest
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3. The context
• University Centre for Rural
Health (UCRH) based in
rural northern NSW
(Lismore, Murwillumbah,
Grafton, Ballina)
• 55 ‘long stay’ medical
students (UoW, UWS,
USyd)
• 300+ short term students
across disciplines
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5. Aspirations for the health professional
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“I wonder if the apathy of
wealthy men would endure,
Were all their windows level with
the faces of the Poor”
Henry Lawson
Faces in the Street, 1888

6. The approach: Social Equity Evenings
• Concept: student dialogue
• Format:
– Film stimulus
– Guest speaker
– Presentation from community members
– Discussion with disadvantaged groups
• Who: students of all disciplines
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7. • The refugee journey
• Living with addictive behaviours
• Aboriginal themed – culture, policy,
disadvantage
• Homelessness
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Topics:

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Date:
Wednesday 24th July
Time:
Light Dinner and
chance to meet other
students :
5.30 – 6.00pm
Film Commences:
6.00pm
Discussion time after
the film
Where:
Lecture Theatre, UCRH
Facilitator:
Dr Michael Douglas
All students are welcome to
attend.
Please RSVP for catering to :
thianh.smith@ucrh.edu.au
UCRH Student Film Night
The film is set entirely in the
remote Indigenous community of
Toomelah, located on the NSW,
QLD border. It was created as a
mission during the 1930s,
bringing together Gamilaroi and
Bigambal people from the
surrounding area.
Toomelah is a deeply personal
story, that intimately depicts
mission life in contemporary
Australia. The film reveals the
challenges facing the young
Gamilaroi people of the Toomelah
Community. Robbed of much of
their traditional culture by
Government policy, it is a
community on a cultural edge,
struggling for an identity. It is a
provocative and yet comic story
that transports audiences inside
the community, creating an
authentic world and way of life
that is "Toomelah"

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11. Setting up the dialogue
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• Establish a “safe” place
– Polarity of views
– Distress
– Speaker support
• Discussion guides

12. Discussion Guide
• Our Generation:
– Identify the cultural elements to resonate;
– Discuss the ways that culture and key attributes have
been removed from Aboriginal people;
– Discuss the effects of this removal on Aboriginal people;
– What is important to us? What happens if it is taken
away? Related this experience to Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people.
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http://www.ourgeneration.org.au/trailerTrailer | Our Generation

13. Strengths and challenges
• Powerful opportunity for students
• Students from multiplicity of backgrounds and
disciplines
• Engaging students – conflicting priorities
• Traumatising
• Follow up
• Effectiveness?
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14. Where to?
• Bedding the
program into
learning
experience
• Evaluate and
share
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15. Student comment
These people have a wonderful story to share, they
have experienced real challenges, nothing that I
could ever imagine experiencing myself. This helps
put things in my life back into perspective. . . .
It reminded me that every patient has a unique and
sometimes damaged past . . . as a health
professional, I will need to maintain my patients’
trust and treat them with dignity.
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