Racing round the world

The Thursday Island Running Festival once again drew supporters from far and wide, including Cairns community researcher Nadine Hunt and communications officer Lucy Campbell from Canberra. As a major sponsor of the event, MK set up a stall at the race expo to encourage Torres Strait Islander runners to complete a survey, then assisted with race organisation. Locals were undeterred by the challenge of running in the huge winds, and clearly enjoyed their involvement in the annual event. MK ambassador and TIRF committee member Elsie Seriat was pleased with the turn-out but keen to shift next year’s event to July, when cooler weather and a lack of scheduled events could potentially increase the race’s numbers.

The following week, in a slightly larger event, Nadine joined Ray Lovett and a huge contingent of Deadly Runners among the 45,000 participants at the start line of the Chicago Marathon.

Pictured below: Ray and Nadine celebrate at the finish line of the Chicago Marathon.

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Health workers unite

Denise Foster, a community researcher with Tangentyere Research Hub, attended the 10th annual National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Health Worker Association conference in Alice Springs. The theme of the conference ”A Decade of Footprints Driving Recognition” was to acknowledge the strength and importance of the Indigenous workforce in the health sector.

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Presentations, media and publications

Ray presented at the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association in Darwin on how cultural factors affect health. Titled “Disruptive Innovations in Health Care”, the conference looked at building on knowledges that disrupt existing practice and policy to raise the standards of health care.

The Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Corporation ran a feature on MK in their newsletter, explaining how the information in the Study could be used by Waltja to assist communities and families in central Australia.

We are pleased to share an updated version of our Defining the Indefinable report, thanks to The Lowitja Institute. It is available online via the link below (and also from Lowitja website), or hard copies are available