"You need to stand up, you need to be counted, you need to be confident within yourself".
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It was Aunty Alice Williams who delivered this message of self-belief during Orange Health Service's NAIDOC event, which drew a large crowd of Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! supporters to its grounds on Tuesday.
Raising awareness of Indigenous history and culture, Orange's 2022 NAIDOC celebrations are marked from October 28 to November 5.
This year's event at Orange's hospital included addresses from Elders Aunty Alice Williams and Uncle Neil Ingram, along with local Aboriginal Health Workers.
Director at Orange Health Service, Catherine Nowlan said the 2022 theme aligned with the hub as an "action-oriented organisation", saying the service is determined to achieve better health outcomes for Indigenous people.
Some of these targets included reducing discharges against medical advice, providing timely care, increasing screening rates, improving immunisation rates and seeing more Aboriginal Health Workers positions filled.
"We are challenged to do this, but it's our obligation; it's what we're employed to do and we need to embrace these challenges," Ms Nowlan said.
"We need to get up, we need to stand up and we need to show up [to work] every day to improve the health of Aboriginal people."
Awards recognised the service's cardiac unit for its strategies in lowering the self-discharge rate amidst Aboriginal patients, including Dr Phillip Butler for his "care, openness and respect" when treating Indigenous clients.
Following a flag-raising ceremony, students of the Wula Gurray (Voice of Change) Choir performed We Are Australian, or We Are One, sang in both English and Wiradjuri languages.
The student performers were also symbolic of Aunty Alice Williams' speech, who shared about being "just a mission girl" who discovered the value of self-belief.
This was another crucial note from the Elder, which carried a message of the safeguarding, preservation and progression of Aboriginal culture into the future.
"You never know where you can go so don't let other people hold you back, just believe in yourself and you'll be surprised at what you can achieve," Aunty Alice said.
"The theme this year is about having a go ... I'm just a mission girl, so you have to have a bit of confidence in what you can do [but] if you want to do it, you'll do it and you can achieve anything you want.
"We need to speak up for ourselves and be role models for the next generation; and I think that we do an excellent job of that in Orange."
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