Yoorana Gunya Family Healing Centre is celebrating a partnership with Western NSW Aboriginal Health, and a shared commitment to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal people in Forbes.
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"Twenty years ago, when I first began Yoorana Gunya, it was in a small house with very limited services," CEO Donna Bliss says.
"Over the years the needs of the Forbes Aboriginal community have changed and the focus of our organisation today is predominantly on providing primary health care and well-being services.
"This partnership will extend our services even further without losing our common goal, providing a range of health, education and family programs to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people."
The service provides a full range of primary health care services. The team includes; general practitioners, registered nurses, Aboriginal health workers, counsellors, domestic violence specialists, suicide prevention workers, social and emotional well-being workers.
"It is critical our services are culturally appropriate and are physically, emotionally and spiritually safe and that we work in partnership with people when providing care and treatment," Ms Bliss says.
"The services that are not provided in Forbes are provided by visiting allied health services and telehealth at Yoorana Gunya.
"This includes tele-health psychology and psychiatry, podiatrist, dietician, optometrist and audiologist. We even have a skin specialist providing Skin Cancer Clinics every fortnight.
"We have trained and employed four Aboriginal Health Practitioners who are frontline workers, who embrace Indigenous knowledge and the ability to deliver health care in our model of care framework."
The service also offers a free pick-up service for all appointments in Forbes and provides home visits.
Mayor Phyllis Miller OAM says it's so important to ensure everyone in our community has access to quality health services in town.
"We are very proud of the service Yoorana Gunya has and continues to provide for the community of Forbes and surrounds," she said.
"Forbes really does look after its people and a holistic health service such as this is very much needed in our community."