11 Jul Baribunmani Wanyi Ngay
Covid restrictions and the floods have made it a tricky couple of years for the Baribunmani Wanyi Ngay Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Youth program. In an effort to recover, the Aboriginal Health Team partnered up with the Regional Industry Education Partnerships (RIEP) Program to assist in getting the word out to schools. RIEP is an initiative of the NSW Department of Education that develops and facilitates opportunities for employers to connect with secondary schools and for students to learn about jobs and pathways to employment.
This partnership resulted in not only the first successful Baribunmani session in two years, but the most well attended session ever! On Thursday 25 May we hosted thirty-six students and seven staff from three different schools – Banora Point High School, Clarence Valley Anglican College & St Mary’s Catholic College Casino.
After welcoming the students and introducing the program for the day, LBH pharmacy intern, Praviska, ran an all-in webster packing activity which all the students thoroughly enjoyed (especially because they were packing lollies and were allowed to eat them after the activity)!
After morning tea, UCRH students and staff did a sterling job of facilitating a range of hands-on sessions for the school students. All facilitators worked hard to run three back-to-back concurrent sessions across the day so that all the students had an opportunity to undertake each activity in small groups.
USyd medical students facilitated the plastering sessions and all 36 students ended up with a cast by the end of the day. They very much enjoyed taking photos of their casts and pranking their parents that they were injured.
Nutrition and Dietetic students ran really fun interactive sessions where students were invited to do a blind taste test. There were lots of laughs in these sessions and the students learned a lot about nutrition. Student facilitators shared their experiences about university life and the many pathways into a career in Nutrition and Dietetics.
UCRH Allied Health staff teamed up with current Occupational Therapy students to run a really interesting series of activities that included learning about the experiences of stroke patients and learning about various OT aides to assist patients to dress and eat. Students particularly enjoyed making and eating fairy bread.
We received extremely positive feedback from both the students and school staff that attended on the day. Big thanks to everyone involved in making the day so successful! Our next session is planned for Thursday 24 August. We already have 45 students registered from across the region and we are continuing to be contacted by schools expressing interest. If registrations continue to grow, we may need to schedule another session later in the year. That would be a most wonderful outcome.