September 4, 2018
Meet Northern Health’s newest Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officer, Jordan Casey.
With the Aboriginal population growing in the northern suburbs, it was important for Northern Health to employ another Hospital Liaison Officer to maintain quality support services for the community.
Emiliano Zucchi, Manager Transcultural & Language Services | Aboriginal Support Unit, says, “we realised the Aboriginal population in our catchment area was growing faster than any other group, and there was more demand for our services than we could meet”.
Jordan’s passion for Aboriginal health and culture started to grow five years ago when he got involved in the community health sector in Sunbury.
“It really fuelled my drive to want to help and contribute in the health sector,” he said.
His new role allows him to provide emotional and cultural support to Aboriginal patients at Northern Health.
“We make sure they’re getting culturally safe care whilst in the hospital. We also provide some follow-up care as well, especially if it’s regarding home and community care.”
A typical day for Jordan consists of seeing Aboriginal patients in the Emergency Department, Short Stay and Wards, to ensure they’re getting culturally appropriate care, as well as providing secondary consult to staff members at Northern Health that are engaging with Aboriginal patients.
Jordan has been working at Northern Health for one month now and he already recognises how his new role can improve the overall patient experience.
“The most rewarding part of my role here at Northern is seeing the positive impact we can have on our patients and their families,” he said.
