TAMWORTH hospital took a stand against racism and bullying on Harmony Day.
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The halls and wards of the hospital were decked in orange to mark national day devoted to Australia multiculturalism.
It’s a poignant day for the hospital which has staff hailing from more than 20 nations.
General manger Catharine Death said it was a core business of health to provide a culturally safe environment for patients and staff.
“I think it’s about the ability to speak up,” Ms Death said.
“If there’s racism, there’s bullying, there’s harassment then we act on it, we see it and we act on it.”
Ms Death said Indigenous health was a big focus on the day and the hospital was pushing to lift its Aboriginal employment rates to 15 per cent.
“We’ve got a target to make sure we are employing equal to population and making it’s a place that Aboriginal staff are safe,” she said.
“I’d like to get to 10 to 15 per cent.
“At the moment it’s about seven per cent, so we’d like to get right up to basically equal population, it’d be great to get to 20 per cent.”
She said the way to reach the target would be through mentoring and supporting staff and further collaborating on what’s working within the hospital.
Worldly operators
Nurse Fiona Peters reckons the operating theatres have the widest variety of nationalities in the hospital.
She said the theatres are packed with performers from afar as Afghanistan, Russia, Israel, Ghana, Nigeria, India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
United by the pale blue scrubs and the language of surgery, she said no challenge is unconquerable.
“Sometimes there might be a language barrier, but surgery is generic all around the world,” she said.
“So if I’m scrubbed with a doctor and I don’t really know what he’s saying, I’ll know what he’s likely to need.
“It’s not insurmountable.”
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 49 per cent of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was and since 1945, more than 7.5 million people have migrated to Australia.
While English, Mandarin, Arabic and Cantonese are the most common, there are more than 70 Indigenous languages spoken in Australia.