Croakey Voices

The curve has flattened, more protective gear is being imported and manufactured locally, and the Federal Government has responded by partially winding back a ban on elective surgery. But will this undermine preparations as we head towards Winter in the time of COVID 19? CroakeyVoices talks to peak health organisations concerned about the preparedness of rural and remote services. Alison Verhoeven, Chief Executive of the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association; and the CEO of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia, Peta Rutherford, caution against complacency. Meanwhile, the head of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT, John Paterson, says the coronavirus crisis has exposed the underfunding of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Clinics and other remote health services, and calls for more work to improve housing in remote communities, saying it’s key to better health. And a cross country trek in the time of COVID19 with a health researcher taking up a new job in the NT.

Homelessness of the time of COVID 19 has some special challenges. Who can stay home when you don’t have a place to call your own? How can you keep a safe social distance when life is a day-to-day battle to survive. We hear from the South Australian State Manager of NEAMI, Kim Holmes, about her state’s quick response to the needs of the homeless and University of Adelaide Researcher Alison Barrett talks about the national response to date.. And the power of music .. GP and health blogger Dr Tim Senior speaks of the healing power of his viola and learning the strength of community from his patients at the Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation Community Controlled Health Service in South West Sydney.

COVID19 is fuelling a collapse in advertising revenue and placing traditional media companies, already under the strain of digital competitors, at further risk. We talk to journalist, editor and former Google News Initiative Teaching fellow Saffron Howden about the toll on Australian regional publications and how closures and cutbacks are coming at the time communities need their local news information more than ever. And the way the people of South Korea got on board with testing, tracking and tracing of COVID19 infections – is the loss of privacy justified for the public health good? Jinhee Kim, a South Korean public health researcher living in Australia, takes us behind the statistics.

Travel to remote communities to hear the challenges facing Indigenous Australians as the coronavirus threatens to spread throughout the country. We hear from Chips Mackinolty, the executive director, Researcherenye Wappayalawangka, Central Australia Academic Health Science Network. And what does the Federal Government’s multi-million dollar injection into telehealth do for patients and medical practitioners in the face of the outbreak? Hear from Dr Centaine Snoswell, the Centre for Health Services Research, University of Queensland.