Adaption and Resilience: Field Placement in Lockdown

By Ada Chukwudozie, 1st year MDP student

Although my field placement has not gone smoothly, or has been anything like I expected it to be, it has turned out to be a wild ride of positive surprises and endless possibilities. In my journey so far, I picked up a wealth of exciting and transferrable skills, as well as important life lessons on resilience and adaptability. 

Going into the practical aspect of the MDP, I was initially poised to start off with an international placement in Dominica, with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Plans however changed when the global pandemic hit. The pandemic forced a nationwide lockdown which meant I had to take a domestic virtual field placement. I was first placed with a not-for-profit organization but unfortunately, things did not work out and I was re-placed to assist on a project called Kishaadigeh.

Kishaadigeh is a research project funded by the Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) and predominantly led by female Indigenous scholars. Its mandate is to develop a pathway for existing and upcoming Indigenous scholars to work alongside and within Indigenous organisations and communities to lay a foundation for self-determination in research. The current primary focus of the project is the development of research lodges at the community level and to this end, it has partnered up with four Indigenous organisations. 

I was assigned a role that has constantly expanded and evolved far beyond what I had imagined. My initial part in the project was to draft seed grant application forms for potential Indigenous health researchers. This responsibility evolved to a position as the project’s social media coordinator, in which I was tasked to create a social media presence for the project. My involvement with Kishaadigeh has seen me coordinate with its Indigenous research partners, conduct interviews, and develop valuable networks. Moving forward, plans have been made for me to attend board meetings and sit with the adjudications committee in August, indicating exciting new prospects to come. While I was very apprehensive of this third placement initially, these new-found skills and relationship building are things that cannot be quantified and things I will not trade for anything now.

What worked:  Because of an imposed new normal brought about by the pandemic, the mode of my field placement has not been a business-as-usual style but rather, a learn as you go approach. This came with obvious challenges which I discuss below but there are things that worked well too. One of the reasons my initial local placement did not work out was because of the structured, inflexible work-plan laid out for me prior to the organisation’s realisations of the dire impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Indigenous communities it worked with. Restructuring and trying to fit me in proved challenging for the organisation. However, with Kishaadigeh, restructuring did not prove problematic. As new needs came up, I was kept in the loop and there were check-in sessions held to monitor and evaluate my progress.   This structure fostered flexibility and made it easier for me to adapt to a new normal.

What did not work: The lack of a concrete structure was what was most challenging for me. In the past, I thrived working with set deadlines and well-defined tasks. With this placement, I had to set deadlines for my task and work with a broad mandate. This is something that turned out to be a valuable learning experience and  made me learn to be a more independent worker capable of working under minimal supervision.

COVID- 19: The COVID-19 pandemic in many ways has been both a challenge and a blessing. The mandatory lockdown has been mentally challenging and I have tried to curb the effects of anxiety and feelings of isolation with yoga and online gaming. This allowed me to fill in the social void caused by the lockdown while still keeping fit. The challenge that the pandemic also caused with my field placement in general taught me resilience and as I move into the last half of this year’s placement, I move with a more positive mindset.

Wardliparringa: Closing Health Gaps the Indigenous Way

By Taylor Wilson, 1st year MDP student

I would first like to acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the Adelaide region, where the SAHMRI building is located; I recognize the Kaurna peoples cultural, spiritual, physical and emotional connection with their land. I honor and pay my respects to Kaurna elders, both past and present, and all generations of Kaurna people, now and into the future. I also pay respect to and acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other parts of Australia, and their connection to country. I want to say thank you to the warm welcome I received from every single Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and non-Indigenous person I have met here and for allowing me to come to their home and work with them.

Wardliparingga Hosts Reconciliation Event

Thank you to Wardliparingga for hosting me for the past few months and all their words of encouragement, guidance for this report, and allowing me to work with them. I would like to thank Dr. Natasha Howard for agreeing to supervise me and set up my work in the unit and making space for me in her busy schedule. I also would like to thank Dr. Karla Canuto for agreeing to co-supervise and being great help with all the edits and advice for the structure of this report. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Alex Brown for agreeing to have me in the unit.

My placement would not be possible without the funding from the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship.

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Over the past twelve weeks at Wardliparingga, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute’s (SAHMRI) Aboriginal Research Unit, I’ve had the opportunity to work on their Aboriginal Diabetes Study (ADS). The ADS emerged out of the need to understand the burden, natural history, and complication development of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in South Australia. The goals of the study are to understand T2D and is complications, better predict the development of complications of it, improve the delivery of T2D care, and find better preventions.

Wardliparringa Staff Member Tirritpa

gives a tour of River Torrens

The study is one of a kind in that since it’s inception in 2016, it has gathered information from approximately 1200 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults 15 years and older across 19 population clusters in South Australia with the goal of 4000 participants. The assessment includes heart, eye and foot check, blood pressure and blood test. Participants are also asked questions about their medical history and lifestyle. Information is treated confidentially, and any immediate health issues are managed by the clinical team. The ADS team has partnered with local Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, SA health community clinics, hospitals and other health professionals involved in diabetes care. One of the greater things participants receive when becoming part of the study, which I found was a stand-out, was that they receive free health checks, health information regarding their results, free sunglasses and prescription glasses, as well as referrals to health professionals in their area. The ADS do a great job of ensuring all participants get as much as possible out of participating.

During my time with the ADS team, my job was to observe the team during their data collection in clinics and evaluate their data collection, health promotion, and overall interactions with the participants. My goal was to provide them a comprehensive report on what and how they can do better in interacting and sharing information with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people coming into the study. Overall, I discovered some incredible things. While there were a few areas for improvement on the data collection end, the areas around participant interaction is where I was most in awe. The team is so welcoming, and kind and it was reflected in their interactions. It was clear that they valued the social and emotional well-being of each participant and often went above and beyond to make the study a positive experience.

The team’s passion for care is definitely a result of the unit they work in. Every single person within Wardliparringa handles their respective studies in such a manner, making the unit an exceptionally welcoming hub for Indigenous health research. This may not seem like much, but as we know, there is a long history of general dis-trust of health care systems for Indigenous peoples across the world, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in South Australia, this is no exception. Having a research hub that approaches research from an Indigenous perspective, has Indigenous researchers, research assistants, and medical professionals, and focuses on health topics important to their Indigenous population is incredibly important for closing all kinds of gaps.

I couldn’t have been more lucky to be welcomed into such an environment for my placement. I encourage anyone reading this to keep an eye out for Wardliparringa and all the great things they will do in the future.

Taylor giving her final report presentation