Thursday, 16 September 2021
Members statements
Women’s health
Women’s health
I am pleased to update the Victorian community on the success of a recent women’s health virtual afternoon tea.
I held the virtual event in partnership with the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health and was joined by the member for Bass and a staff member from the office of the member for Narre Warren South. The keynote speaker was the highly regarded obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Midia Alias, who used her scientific expertise and an open conversational style to facilitate discussion of COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccines and the impact that this pandemic has had on women, children, families and loved ones.
Dr Alias and the Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health representatives and educators Amira Rahmanovic, Nicki Duang, Gagan Kaur Cheema, Sohaila Safdari and Huda Al Saba delivered presentations that covered a broad range of topics related to COVID-19 and women’s health, including the continued importance of cancer screening and how to care for our own mental health and the mental health of our little ones.
It can be hard to navigate caring roles without accessible and accurate information, especially in an environment where women need to be vigilant about both our physical and mental health. This information session and discussion space is particularly important to ensure that we have the knowledge and information that we need to be confident in our care for ourselves and others.
The clinicians and presenters were women proficient in a wide range of languages, making the event accessible for a broad range of culturally and linguistically diverse communities. In addition to their extensive experience as clinicians, they speak Arabic, Assyrian, Dinka, Arabic and Sudanese Arabic, Hindi, Punjabi, Dari, Farsi and Hazaragi.
The diversity does not stop there. With representation from both the Cranbourne youth advisory committee and the Italian and Turkish senior citizens groups, there was a wide age range with cross-generational contributions bringing nuance to discussions of screening and fertility.
In addition to the health presentations, Robin Penty from Cranbourne Royal Botanic Gardens took us on a virtual tour of the gardens, assuring us that there is no admission fee to enter and it is still open to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank the following people for their insights.
• Thank you to:
o the member for Bass
o Laura, representing the member for Narre Warren South
o Tania Sacco from Hampton Park Progress Association
o Sylvia Coombe from Fijian Community Association Victoria
o Machid from Hazara Shamama Association of Victoria
o Yei Okoth from Community Abundance Incorporated
o Tayla Hansen from Australian Support for Family Violence
o Jenny Philipps from Korus Connect, Community Connector at Cranbourne Park shopping centre
o Liz Barton from Aged Care Reform Now
o Meha Siva from the Sri Lankan Tamil community and Casey Multifaith Network
o Abiola Ajetomobi from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
o Paulien from Voices of Casey community choir
o Rachel Biar from Centre for Multicultural Youth
o Gail Moore from Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning
o Rabecca Mphande from AfriAus iLEAC and President, Nelson Mandela Day Commemorative Commmitee
o Anyieth Makuei from the South Sudanese-Australian Academic Society
o Trishula Nagarajan from Women’s Health in the South East
o Gula Bezhan from Afghan Women’s Organisation Victoria
o Valle Motta from Cranbourne Italian Senior Citizens Club
o Nurten (Kim) Hasan from Hampton Park Turkish Seniors Group
o Asmaa from Wellsprings for Women
o Ozlem and Ellen from the Cranbourne youth advisory committee.
I am very fortunate to represent the Cranbourne community and particularly grateful to the women of the MCWH for their support in hosting this important virtual discussion on the impact of COVID-19.