Serving Indigenous Communities with Dr Claudia Collins

Update: 2021-11-04

Description

Dr Danielle Arabena yarns with Dr Claudia Collins who works as a senior medical officer and lead clinician at Yulu-Burri-Ba Aboriginal Corporation for Community Health on Minjerribah, Stradbroke Island. Having grown up in Far North Queensland, Claudia shares how her journey with med school and her work as a doctor sparked her passion with Indigenous and rural health. Claudia also shares some of the simple yet powerful teachings from community elders.

Claudia is currently working as Senior Medical Officer and Lead Clinician at Yulu-Burri-Ba Aboriginal Corporation for Community Health - serving the communities connected to Minjerribah (NSI), and the bayside communities around Capalaba and Wynnum.

She is also a current Training Advisor for the Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway, navigating career pathways for rural primary care registrars across the state of Queensland.

She has been living in Brisbane since 2018, but working within the Indigenous Health sector in regional and rural QLD since 2013 – as both an ACRRM registrar and fellowed Rural Generalist. She is a passionate advocate for Indigenous Health: particularly with regards to providing culturally appropriate gold-standard care, and working towards health equality for our First Nations People. She has had cultural mentors during her career that have been instrumental in challenging and fostering her understanding of the landscape and challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, particularly in relation to health, and continues to be mentored as she progresses through her career.

Starting her medical career in Central Queensland at Rockhampton Hospital, Claudia has worked then worked as a registrar in Longreach, and then as a senior Registrar and fellowed GP for Nhulundu Health Service in Gladstone (5yrs), and then as a locum GP for Bidgerdii Health Service in Gladstone, and Gidgee Healing in Mount Isa. When first moving to Brisbane, she came for an opportunity to work for the IUIH network at Moreton ATSICHS in their Caboolture and Deception Bay clinics, before making the move to Senior GP and then Senior Medical Officer at Yulu Burri Ba.

Nhulundu Health Service was instrumental in fostering her passion for working within the ACCHO sector, and she had strong cultural mentors who helped to shape her viewpoints and drive for providing quality care to First Nations People, whom she also now considers as friends. She was accepted by Community and had fostered strong links which improved service delivery and outcomes for clients interacting with both the AMS and the local public hospital.

Claudia grew up in far north Queensland and graduated from James Cook University School of Medicine – which has a strong curriculum emphasis on Rural Remote Indigenous and Tropical Health. She completed all of her SOM placements and rotations with these foundations – spending a considerable amount of time during her university years in Mount Isa. She holds fellowship with ACRRM and has an advanced skill in Indigenous Health (previously also an AST in Obstetrics).

She is an alumni of the Queensland Rural Generalist Pathway, and a former Queensland Rural Health Scholarship Scheme (QHRSS) holder.

Yulu-Burri-Ba Aboriginal Corporation for Community Health: https://www.ybb.com.au/

Contact Dr Claudia Collins: Claudia.Collins@ybb.com.au

Resources mentioned:

'Binan Goonj' By Anne-Katrin Eckermann, Toni Dowd, Ena Chong, Roy Gray, Lynette Nixon · 2010