I am woman

9th October 2017

As the focus of Multicultural Health Week 2017 was ‘Women’s Health’ here at Calvary Mater Newcastle we decided to celebrate with women from our local culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Members of our CALD Working Party (Cultural Safety Audit) were very excited by the prospect as they themselves represent a variety of cultures, Tongan, Ukrainian, Italian, South African and Maori. Members made contact with local communities and on Wednesday 6 September, women arrived for an information session, a tour of the hospital and either morning or afternoon tea.

Fortuitously the day corresponded with the first day of work for Calvary Mater Newcastle’s newly appointed Multicultural Health Liaison Officer, Sylvia Gray. Connections were quickly established and conversations flowed. The planned tour was soon running behind time, the questions and interest from the women could not be quelled. They engaged readily with staff, all of us learning much about each other.

As we sat together at the end of each session, stories continued to be shared as well as ideas of how we could continue to get to know our local CALD communities. International Women’s Day 2018 was declared our next joint project.