New First Nations designed uniform for aged care workers
Bupa has unveiled new First Nations designed uniforms for staff at its Cairns and Mt Sheridan aged care homes.
Bupa has unveiled new First Nations designed uniforms for staff at its Cairns and Mt Sheridan aged care homes.
As a home or workplace to many First Nation residents and team members, who also helped design the new uniforms, which celebrate the Gimuy-walubarra yidi people by featuring symbols and flags of the local tribe, as well as the Aboriginal and Australian flags.
Bupa Villages and Aged Care Managing Director Andrew Kinkade said: “We want our homes to be a reflection of their local communities and with a strong First Nations community in Cairns, we want our residents and team members to be able to celebrate their culture."
We want our homes to be a reflection of their local communities and with a strong First Nations community in Cairns, we want our residents and team members to be able to celebrate their culture.
“We are also incredibly proud to see our Cairns based homes bringing our First Nations employment plan to action through our new partnership with members of the Mornington Island community. As part of this partnership, members of the community will come to Cairns for paid work experience in our homes.”
The aim of this program to give community members exposure to a career in caring, where they can eventually undertake a formal traineeship in our homes or take the experience they’ve gained back to their local community.”
The recruitment, retention and advancement of First Nations people is a key focus for the Cairns homes and is part of the strategy in Bupa’s third Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for 2023 - 2026 which was launched earlier this year.
The “Stretch RAP”, developed in consultation with Bupa’s RAP Working Group, First Nations Employee Network and external First Nations consultancy 15 Times Better focuses on improved health equity, Indigenous employment and procurement along with cultural awareness and education.
“The development of our latest Reconciliation Action Plan has been an important one for us, empowering our people to grow our understanding and awareness of First Nations cultures and reflect on the true histories and challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families, and communities,” Mr Kinkade said.
