WISHING WELLNESS: Chairman of Coonabahloo Gibir Men’s Group Michael Newman (sitting left), Orange Aboriginal Medical Centre staff member Kayla Sutherland (sitting), Treasurer Coonabahloo Gibir Men’s Group Josh Webster (back), Orange Aboriginal Medical Centre staff member Megan Evans and Orange Aboriginal Medical Centre staff members Dr Tove Riphagen, Ekala French and Greg Penny are hoping to secure government funding to create a men’s wellness centre at the Palmer Street site. Photo: JUDE KEOGH 0320menshealth1
THE Orange Aboriginal Medical Centre team want to slash the number of Aboriginal men in jail and Orange City Council has given them $36,000 worth of land to help do so.
The plan is to set up an Aboriginal male wellness centre at the Palmer Street Orange Aboriginal Medical Centre but to get government funding for the project the team needed to own the land.
CEO Jamie Newman said it would look much better for the group and they would be more likely to succeed if they were not leasing the area.
“We’ve been working with the Aboriginal Men’s Group over the last few years and they need somewhere to meet and it would more favourable for funding if we owned it,” he said.
“We’ve invested over $600,000 into the Palmer Street site since 2005 with renovations and upgrades.”
Mr Newman said it was the best placed facility to allow the group to have somewhere to meet where they could seek advice, support and advocacy.
He said the centre would not provide any medical services rather it would be a place for men to seek assistance.
“There is no place they can co-ordinate care and assistance,” he said.
The group chose the project because of the high incarceration rates of male Aboriginal men because men lack the access and utilisation of existing services.
The wellness centre would be a one-stop shop for all services they need to get their lives on track.
“They just aren’t accessing the health care and social services that are available so this would be about referral and support,” he said.
“This was requested by the Aboriginal Men’s Group.”
Mr Newman said the group were hoping to hear from the government in the next month about whether they were successful in their funding bid.
