Services and Programs Offered by VACCHO

Discuss about the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) acts as the representative of all the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organizations in Victoria (Australia) where it provides guidance on the Aboriginal Health policies. Furthermore, the organization supports local initiatives, but it does not contain any health services. The organization is involved in numerous programs that aimed at promoting member organizations in providing excellent healthcare which may include sexual health, chronic care, maternity and mental health. This article gives an overview of the policies that are made and have an impact on the Aboriginal people’s health and also the impact it has on other people’s health (Fletcher, 2011). Furthermore, the policies made enable the communities to reach their full potential in life, and this got achieved by the community control philosophy.

VACCHO was established in 1973 in Eastern Victoria and it was a highly publicized event because the federal and state government were involved in its development though they were slow in supporting it break through. VACCHO made a partnership with other mainstream health organizations to improve the state of the Aboriginal people mostly women and children. Furthermore, these organizations focused on pulling Aboriginal women together from various parts of Australia so that they may support each other in the fight for better health, education, and housing. During its opening, there were only several Aboriginal nurses and fifteen doctors who voluntarily decided to grace the occasion. At the event, there were over 100 people and two days after it began operating it stated treatment on 20 patients (Roach, n.d). The people who played an essential role in the establishment are Dr. Malcolm Dobbin, Hyllus Maris, Julia Jones, Dr. Janet Bacon and Edna Brown. Furthermore, the establishment of the facility was to help the Aboriginal alcoholic people who were from Fitzroy. The organization helped with the cleaning and tidying up the place so that it could be a human-friendly environment. In 1974, the organization established a dental health service, and this was the first of its kind to be a community controlled facility in Australia.  The doctor in charge of the center was Bill Roberts who was the non-Aboriginal dentist. He later left the facility in the care of Alma Thorpe and focused on the Aboriginal struggles by fighting for their well-being and rights.

The lack of government funding meant that Dr. Bill would be the only dentist in the facility with only two trained Aboriginal dental nurses and this made him come back to the facility on September 23^rd, 1974. During the first eight days after it commenced, the facility was able to 140 patients, and within three years it had treated over six thousand patients (Roach, n.d). The Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS), was the organization that funded the facility since there was no government funding and this enabled the dental facility to purchase its caravan that was fit with dental equipment. During this period, there was only two Aboriginal community controlled health services that existed in Victoria that functioned fully. These were VAHS and the Gippsland service while the other communities (Dandenong and Shepparton) managed small cooperatives. In 1977, the Dental Service partnered with VAHS doctors and the Aboriginal staff on weekly road runs and monthly mobile clinics to the regional communities throughout Australia. A significant number of Fitzroy community members worked as Aboriginal Field Officers at VAHS for a couple of years.

History of VACCHO

VACCHO has an objective of providing the best quality service to its partners, stakeholders, and members by regularly reviewing and improving the services they render. VACCHO also focuses expressing the diverse cultures within Victoria’s aboriginal communities. Furthermore, VACHO provides an excellent quality workforce that helps in the development of skilled, creative and an experienced workforce which comprises of employees and voluntary governed facilities in Aboriginal community controlled organizations. Moreover, this enables the delivering of proper health services to the Aboriginal people because they are an experienced and knowledgeable workforce. VACCHO also has a mission of providing quality advocacy and policies which influence government policies to adequately pay attention to the health needs of Aboriginal people in Victoria. Another purpose of VACCHO is to give the quality infrastructure which secures the capital and human resources that are necessary for maintaining and enhancing the activities of member organizations and businesses within VACCHO. Moreover, VACCHO focuses on providing quality services that meet the needs of the members and the Aboriginal communities (VACCHO, n.d). They enable members to achieve their full potential in the services they render to the Aboriginal community. VACCHO has a vision of providing good quality health and empowering communities and individuals to reach their full potential. It further explores opportunities so that it may develop ways that ensure continuity as a sustainable organization.

VACCHO is Victoria’s representative of the Aboriginal health body which focuses on community control and providing health equality for the people in Aboriginal communities. The center offers policy advice and expertise in Aboriginal health for the Aboriginal people in the region (Victoria). VACCHO has a role as Victoria’s peal agency which includes promoting and developing appropriate cultural primary health services for the Aboriginal communities and building community controlled health services that assist in service provision. Furthermore, it links the community controlled health sectors to the government and other non-governmental health agencies.

The organization has a 100% membership of the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs), and it targets Aboriginal communities. VACCHO also represents the community controlled sector by its association and membership to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organization (NACCHO). Other members include;

• Aboriginal Community Elders Service
• Bendigo and District Aboriginal Cooperative
• Dandenong and District Aborigines Cooperative Limited 

Contact and Location

Telephone numbers;

• 03 9411 9411
• 03 9411 9599

VACCHO opening days

• Monday to Thursday: 9 in the morning to 5 in the evening
• Friday: 9in the morning to 4 in the afternoon

Address

17-23 Sackville Street

P.O BOX 1328

Collingwood VIC 3066, Australia

Link to the location on a map; https://www.google.com/maps/place/Victorian+Aboriginal+Community+Controlled+Health+Organisation+In

Numerous factors affect the provision of adequate health care services to the Aboriginal people. One of the main challenges is government funding where the government is unwilling to give funds in supporting the welfare of the Aboriginal communities. It is a challenge because VACCHO though it is a representative of other organization it may lack the sufficient capital required in providing the excellent health services required by the Aboriginal communities. Furthermore, there may be market failure especially when the health provider fails to effectively engage with the Aboriginal community and fail to offer culturally safe healthcare standards (VACCHO, n.d). Moreover, there are barrier challenges which hinder the access to these Aboriginal communities due to the distance that should be covered to reach them, and most of the population is mobile. Therefore, these people are difficult to locate. Another challenge is when non-Aboriginal organizations have staff that has inadequate experience in delivering effective services to the cultural environment.

By interacting with the Aboriginal community (Fitzroy), l have had an impression that VACCOH has played an important role in relating to people from the Aboriginal community by enabling them to explore their full potential. Furthermore, VACCHO has partnered with other organization to make sure that they provide culturally safe health services that mostly target the women and children. For instance, there are 13 prisons in Victoria and one transition center all with the diverse population of inmates. The prisons are all managed and owned by the Department of Justice, and all the prisons get health care services which are conducted by a mixture of public and private healthcare providers which are under contract with the Victorian Department of Justice. Three health care providers are GEO Care which services all prisons except Port Phillip Prison, Forensicare, and St. Vincent’s Correctional Health Service (VACCHO, n.d).

Conclusion

From the article, it is evident that VACCOH plays an essential role in ensuring that every Aboriginal Community Controlled organization fulfills its intended purpose of providing excellent health care services to the Aboriginal communities. Furthermore the fund management is handled by VACCHO which provides funds for most member organizations and help in their operations.

References

Fletcher, G., Fredericks, B., Adams, K., Finlay, S., Andy, S., Briggs, L., & Hall, R. (2011). Having a yarn about smoking: Using action research to develop a ‘no smoking’policy within an Aboriginal Health Organisation. Health policy, 103(1), 92-97.

Roach, A. (n.d). A history of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service. Retrieved from: https://www.vaccho.org.au/assets/01-RESOURCES/TOPIC-AREA/CORPORATE/A-HISTORY-OF-THE-VICTORIAN-ABORIGINAL-HEALTH

VACCHO (n.d). Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.

Retrieved from: https://www.vaccho.org.au/assets/01-RESOURCES/HISTORY-VACCHO.pdf

VACCHO (n.d). 2013-17 Strategic Plan. Retrieved from: https://www.vaccho.org.au/assets/01-RESOURCES/TOPIC-AREA/CORPORATE/VACCHO-STRATEGIC-PLAN-2013-17.pdf

VACCHO (n.d). Home. Retrieved from: https://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/organisations?oid=459  

VACCHO (n.d). Keeping Our Mob Healthy In and Out of Prison. Retrieved from: https://www.vaccho.org.au/assets/01-RESOURCES/TOPIC-AREA/RESEARCH/KEEPING-OUR-MOB-HEALTHY.pdf

VACCHO (n.d). The Long Journey: Colonialism, Community-Control & Indigenous Autonomy. Retrieved from: https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/214182/sub455-human-services-reform.pdf

VACCHO (n.d). VACCHO Annual Report 2014-15. Retrieved from: https://vaccho.org.au/assets/01-RESOURCES/TOPIC-AREA/CORPORATE/2015/VACCHO-ANNUAL-REPORT-2014-15-.