Louie Louie

May 18, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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footy.jpgLouie heard you … he just doesn’t want to kick the ball to you.

Our home is less than a kilometre from a large park and sports ground. On a clear day we can hear some of the activity at the ground from our back yard.

There was quite obviously a footy game in full swing on Saturday. I could hear the muted sounds of cheering, an occasional whistle and then came a clear voice calling out. “Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie, Louie.”

I’m sure it was a player calling on his team mate to kick or pass the ball in his direction. It’s a shame that his football skills weren’t as legendary as his shouting ability. If I could clearly hear the call over half a kilometre, three roads and several houses away, I reckon that whoever had the ball would certainly have heard him. He obviously just didn’t think that Mr Shouty Man was the right option at that point in the game.



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IBERA helps close the gap

May 18, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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closethegap.jpgThe gap between the health of Indigenous Australians and the rest of our population is a scandal. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have a life expectancy 17 years less than other Australians.

Last week an innovative tool was launched in Canberra which aims to help ‘Close the Gap’ between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancy rates in Australia.

IBERA or Indigenous Body Education Resource Animations should empower patients to make more informed decisions about their own health and wellbeing.

Late last week I spoke to Paula Arnol about IBERA.

Paula Arnol is a Cairns woman with strong family connections to Yarrabah. Ms Arnol is the Chief Executive Officer of the Danila Dilba Biluru Butji Binnilutlum Health Service, the principal Aboriginal Medical Service for Darwin and surrounding areas providing holistic services around the comprehensive primary health care model.

Ms Arnol sits on the boards of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory, which is the State Affiliate body for the 26 Aboriginal Medical Services within NT, Northern Territory Aboriginal Health Forum, the National Indigenous Health Equality Council, which was a council put together after the new Government’s announcement on the Close the Gap policy, the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, which brings core research and ideas around delivering priorities in Aboriginal health nationally and the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, which is the National representative body for all Aboriginal Medical Services nationally.

If you want to hear the discussion I had with Paula on 98.5 Sonshine FM last week, just click the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR150509_1411.mp3]

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