MDA National signs partnership with Binar Futures
MDA National is excited to announce a new community partnership with Binar Futures, in support of the Binar Health Embassy initiative.
Binar Futures is an Aboriginal community organisation in Western Australia providing culturally safe engagement platforms for youth through sports and cultural activities. Their Vision is for Aboriginal youth to build positive futures for themselves, their families, communities and cultures, engaging with Aboriginal youth to promote healthier lives, and develop more resilient and empowered young people.
With approval from the State Government of Western Australia to manage basketball events in regional areas –they have a goal to help address Health and Wellbeing of Aboriginal adolescents by providing simultaneous health education and targeted medical check-ups, to improve the health outcomes of Aboriginal people during these events.
The health checks are facilitated by a group of nurses and doctors from the St John of God group, covering ear and heart health checks as well as other medical service providers like Asthma WA. The health education proportion of the program covers topics such as exercise, wet cough, vaping, drugs / alcohol and nutrition. A ‘health passport’ with matching symbols (heart, ears, eyes, etc) allows practitioners to track which testing or educational services the kids have participated in. Tracking these various completed visitations to the stallholders within the Health Embassy allowed Binar to distribute prizes to the kids for completion of tasks. This created the correct incentives and made the health checks…”cool”!!
‘We are humbled to be supporting the important work of Binar Futures and St John of God Healthcare in closing the gap and improving the health outcomes of Aboriginal communities. The Binar Health Embassy is perfectly aligned to our goal of supporting initiatives that improve access to quality healthcare for all vulnerable Australians’, said MDA National President, Dr Michael Gannon.
Of the new partnership with MDA National, Binar Futures founder and Executive Director Adam Desmond said: ‘With the help of MDA National we are able to create these health engagement opportunities that then allows our medical partners to directly engage with the kids and their families in a culturally safe environment”.
The next Binar Futures basketball tournament and Health Embassy is taking place in Bunbury, Western Australia from 11 – 12 April 2024. The goal of the Health Embassy program at this event is for approx. 250 young participants to receive free health checks that will assist in improving health outcomes for this important adolescent group and their families.
General enquiries:
Kylie Philippzig National Manager, Brand and Corporate Communications
