Last hurrah for 2024!
After the craziness of October / November, there could be no better way to wrap up 2024 than participating in the biennial Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors Congress or "PRIDoC", hosted this year by the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA) on Kaurna Country, at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
Without the fast pace and high intensity of the GP24 and RMA conferences, this one was much more welcoming and inclusive, bringing together doctors and their families from all the countries across this continent, and a broad diversity of participants representing the foremost Indigenous doctors' member organisations from across the Pacific:
- ‘Ahahui o nā Kauka (Association of Native Hawaiian Physicians)
- Association of American Indian Physicians
- Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC)
- Medical Association for Indigenous People of Taiwan (MAIPT)
- Te Ohu Rata O Aotearoa "Te ORA" (Maori Medical Practitioners)
The standout of this event was that it focused on bringing people together, connecting them to land and culture and one another, with a singular goal of striving towards a healthier future for all of our communities. The synergies between this goal and GPSA's purpose were clear to all.
GPSA was proud to head into this congress identifying as an Indigenous ally, but by the time we bumped out (ie pulled down the heavy banners and re-packed the gear Leonie and I lug around for our travelling roadshow!) we were truly humbled by the opportunities for increased involvement that came out of our many entertaining and inspiring discussions.
These opportunities include contributing to JCTS's focus on supervisor cultural safety training in 2025; reformatting the Scenario app to accommodate other languages such as Mandarin, French and Spanish; partnering with international universities and associations to improve the relevance of our content for Indigenous medical education outside Australia; working more closely with IGPTN and AIDA to enhance the delivery of high quality supervision to Indigenous doctors; and much more.
Having so many conferences so close together at the end of the year means we are heading into 2025 with work already afoot to provide our members additional resources and exclusive benefits through not one but three MDOs, along with respected accountants and HR support services, and some popular AI-scribe, web design and practice software and practice intelligence platform providers.
To the many GPSA members who dropped by to say hello at PRIDoC and all of the conferences we've attended in 2024, we thank you! Just as we recognise the cost of travelling to and registering for these events is far from insignficant, it isn't an easy decision to commit such a hefty portion of our meagre funding to attending these either; but keeping GPSA's profile high across the sector is essential, elevating your voice through our visibility. Of equal importance is the unique opportunity our presence as exhibitors gives Leonie, Srishti and me to sit and listen to the needs and suggestions of our current and future supervisor, practice manager and practice owner members - all while Sami and Simon do the heavy lifting running our educational workshops and presenting our research!
I wish you all a year ahead full of professional satisfaction, enjoyable networking and info-sharing opportunities, innovations that will enhance your experience whatever your role may be in supervision, and the happiness and good health you most certainly deserve. As one who has not enjoyed the best of health in what is fast approaching a decade now, I would also like to share with you the greatest personal reward I had to embrace to keep my most worrying comorbidity in check... Permission: which might mean giving yourself permission to make yourself central in your priorities, to shake off negative influences (and influencers!), to think of the airline mantra about applying your own oxygen mask first whenever you start overstretching your personal wellbeing and resources for the benefit of others, to eliminate the word "martyr" from the descriptors others use for you, or to just shut off from the world and breathe. I for one am planning to give myself a bit more permission to do that breathing thing in 2025!!
Happy New Year xox
Carla