A HEALTH project for Indigenous Australians involving experts from University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health has won almost $500,000 in federal funding.
Yarning Up After Stroke is a collaborative project with Aboriginal communities northwest of the Hunter designed to empower Indigenous Australians living with stroke to take control of their own recovery.
The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) cash, which arrives in NAIDOC Week, bolsters the proof-of-concept work Professor Chris Levi and Dr Heidi Jansen have helped carry out after a grant from the Stroke Foundation as part of a federal $20 million pend on cardiovascular health.
The project seeks to use yarning, or a culturally respectful way to learn, listen and share information, in recovery. Yarning circles are safe spaces in which everyone has a voice.
Stroke Foundation chief executive Sharon McGowan said she is immensely pleased to see Yarning Up After Stroke backed with federal funds.
"Introducing stroke recovery support services which use tools already embraced by Indigenous cultures, offers a more relatable way forward and are therefore likely to be more successful," she says. "And we know how critical this is. Australia's First Nations people are 1.3 times more likely to die from a stroke than non-Indigenous people and are hospitalised 1.6 times more.
"It's a community we want to provide as much awareness, education and support to as we can."
The figures around stroke are not in favour of regional communities. People living in a regional or remote community are 17 per cent more likely to suffer a stroke than anyone living in cities.
Ms McGowan said the yarning project was "an important first step towards addressing the inequity".
"That's why it is so exciting to see programs like Yarning Up after Stroke being recognised through federal funding, and we look forward to supporting the team and participating First Nations communities," Ms McGowan said.
