NSW Health Pathology this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with First Nations training and jobs provider, Real Futures, to foster career opportunities and improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

NSW Health Pathol­o­gy Chief Exec­u­tive Vanes­sa Janis­sen joined Real Futures Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer Chris­tian­na Cartwright to sign the MOU, for­mal­is­ing the part­ner­ship between the two organisations.

“It’s about forg­ing stronger con­nec­tions with Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peo­ples,” Vanes­sa Janis­sen said at the signing.

“We will com­mit to iden­ti­fy­ing poten­tial employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties with­in NSW Health Pathol­o­gy and encour­age First Nations peo­ple to apply.

“I’m excit­ed that with­in our newest cohort of NSW Health Pathol­o­gy trainees, 10 per cent iden­ti­fy as Aboriginal.”

Ms Janis­sen said the MOU was also about improv­ing NSW Health Pathology’s ser­vices for First Nations people.

“We will lis­ten to Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peo­ples to bet­ter under­stand their needs and work to adapt our prac­tices to deliv­er bet­ter health outcomes.

“We will put Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peo­ple at the cen­tre of all that we do,” Ms Janis­sen said.

Real Futures is cer­ti­fied as a major­i­ty Abo­rig­i­nal owned, con­trolled, and man­aged train­ing and employ­ment company.

CEO Chris­tian­na Cartwright said her organ­i­sa­tion looks for­ward to work­ing with NSW Health Pathol­o­gy to ensure job can­di­dates get the sup­port they need.

“We will pro­vide men­tor­ing and assis­tance for suc­cess­ful can­di­dates for the first six months of their employ­ment with NSW Health Pathol­o­gy,” she said.

“That includes sup­port for ongo­ing atten­dance and to help them over­come any bar­ri­ers to per­form­ing their job.

“Our aim is to upskill and empow­er First Nations peo­ple to gain mean­ing­ful work, become an asset to their work­place and role mod­els for others.”

NSW Health Pathology’s Asso­ciate Direc­tor, Abo­rig­i­nal Part­ner­ships and Inclu­sion, Kevin Stan­ley wel­comed the new part­ner­ship with Real Futures.

“Our MoU and for­malised part­ner­ship with Real Futures solid­i­fies our com­mit­ment to con­tin­ue work that has been under­way for more than six months,” he said.

“Con­nect­ing with com­mu­ni­ty at a grass roots lev­el is a key fac­tor in the suc­cess of any Abo­rig­i­nal works and our part­ner­ship with Real Futures is an amaz­ing start to estab­lish­ing such valu­able connections.”

Topics