Aboriginal health officer Alby Ryan said Aboriginal residents were often fearful of seeking medical help and efforts had been under way to make the hospital more culturally appropriate.

“It’s fearful because we see it as a place of death and it’s an authoritative building so even though it’s about our health, it’s something we as Aboriginal people don’t like,” he said.

Much of the solution has rested in employing Aboriginal health staff, but also properly inducting all staff through the hospital. 

Inductions cover everything from appropriate eye contact to acknowledging a patient’s wider support group and including them in their loved one’s care. 

Mr Ryan said decoration also played an important role, with a painting by a Wiradjuri artist hung in the emergency department.

“It shows the story of one of our clients’ journey with cardiac issues, the painting depicts the healing stages – the well, the not well and the well again,” he said.

Mr Ryan hoped an Aboriginal staff member could be added to the emergency department to greet patients, similar to other positions in Bathurst and Dubbo.

“It’s a process of chipping away and increasing staff,” he said. 

Aboriginal clinical care registered nurse Mandy Debenham said charging stations for mobile phones were also being considered. 

“If they can’t contact their family, it makes them a bit more isolated,” she said. 

Orange Health Service general manager Catherine Nowlan said the hospital could not yet say it met all the criteria for culturally-appropriate health care for everyone who needed it.

“We are charged with that challenge and we need to be held accountable,” she said. 

Flags were raised to half mast, followed by traditional dance by Orange High School’s Girri Girri boys’ dance group, a cake cutting and barbecue.

The dental ward won the decoration competition and will host a totem painting until next year.

More than 5.5 per cent of the Orange population has Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage, compared to almost 3 per cent across the state.