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Monday, 23 September 2013

Two of Australia's leading aged care advocates will travel to Broome this week to lend the nation's top health researchers a hand.

Australian actress Noeline Brown and author Sue Pieters-Hawke will join researchers from The University of Western Australia's WA Centre for Health and Ageing and collaborating partners during their visit to the Kimberley, to share important health research findings with participating Indigenous communities and health professionals.

Ms Brown was appointed Australia's first Ambassador for Ageing by the Rudd Government in 2008 and reappointed for another three-year term in 2011.  Ms Pieters- Hawke is an author and co-chair of the Federal Government's Dementia Advisory Group.

A team of researchers led by two geriatricians, Associate Professor Dina LoGiudice from Melbourne Health and UWA's Winthrop Professor Leon Flicker, will share their findings in workshops with participating communities and local health professionals in a bid to improve outcomes for older Aboriginal people in the region.

"Those who live in regional and remote Australia often suffer poorer health and have a lower life expectancy than those who live in metropolitan areas - they have been overlooked and it is time that this was addressed," Professor Flicker said.

"Our research team is committed to promoting research and improving the quality of lives of Australia's culturally diverse population.  Communicating our results with the Kimberley community is important to us and we hope that this will lead to improved health care for older people in the Kimberley."

Dr LoGiudice said the researchers had developed an easy-to-understand guide booklet based on research results.

"It aims to help clinicians identify factors that contribute to increased independence and improved well-being for older people living in the region," she said.

The guide booklets will be launched at the workshops and focus on dementia, depression, pain, continence and falls - identified as key areas impacting older Aboriginal people living in the Kimberley.

The Kimberley Healthy Adults Project is an extension of previous research and has focused on exploring the prevalence of common conditions in old age such as dementia, falls, depression, chronic pain and incontinence.

It completed a comprehensive health survey on Aboriginal people over the age of 45 years in the town of Derby and six remote communities across the Kimberley region.  It was funded by a National Health and Medicine Research Council grant and was nominated as a Top 10 Projects of 2012 by NHMRC.

Media references

Christianne White (WA Centre for Health and Ageing)  (+61 8)  9224 2993  /  (+61 4) 15 213 661
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783

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