The Rural Health Education Foundation’s landmark 600th receiving site is at the Wuchopperen Health Service located in Cairns.
Wuchopperen Health Service is a community-controlled primary health care service for Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders in the Cairns and Atherton Tablelands regions.
In 1978 the Aboriginal community in Far North Queensland established a council to improve its appalling health conditions. Wuchopperen Health Service Ltd was formed in 1979 and the service was officially opened in 1981 on National Aboriginal and Islanders Day of Commemoration (NAIDOC).
Wuchopperen Health Service provides essential health care to improve the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Their vision is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples enjoy a level of good health to contribute and share in the economic wealth and cultural richness and prosperity of Far North Queensland.
Wuchopperen Health Service operates in Manoora Atherton, has a base of 14,000 clients who reside in the Cairns area, and a further client base of 4000 people who visit Cairns, mainly from the Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait. It has also provided support to two communities in developing autonomous primary health care services for their people: Mamu now delivers services to the community in Innisfail; and Mulungu delivers services to the community in Mareeba.
The Rural Health Education Foundation satellite receiving site was made fully operational in late 2005, and is located in Wuchopperen’s Social Health Building - otherwise known as the Rainforest Building. Within this building is a large air-conditioned training/conference room which comfortably seats up to sixty people. Kitchen and bathroom facilities are available and there are also computer network points, TV, VCR, projector and screen available.
The health and medical professionals who work at Wuchopperen can access the Foundation’s regular professional development broadcasts. They include twelve General Practitioners, thirteen nurses, two allied health workers, one paediatrician, twenty-seven Aboriginal Health Workers, three health service managers and thirty-eight others.
The Rural Health Education Foundation satellite broadcasts are a great benefit to all health professionals within our organisation, a fantastic method for all clinical staff to keep up to date in an interactive way. The Foundation provides professional education in an outstanding and accessible way. Prior to having this facility, continuing medical education was costly and inconvenient and these programs assist the community who reside in the Cairns area and those who visit from the Cape York Peninsula and the Torres Strait.
- Dallas Young, Chair, Wuchopperen Health Service.