 Dentists assisting Indigenous communities in Far North Queensland
In the Indigenous communities around Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands of far north Queensland access to dental care has been a long term, ongoing problem. The waiting list for basic care is around one year and this has been causing people with minor problems to develop acute or chronic conditions.
And it's not from a lack of facilities – the local Indigenous health service, Wuchopperen, has two fully equipped dental rooms at its Cairns clinic, and a mobile dental van ready to travel to Atherton and outlying communities. Wuchopperen has a community-based health service that is highly innovative, servicing the area’s 20,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with a range of services such as GP clinics, primary health care, counselling, family support, nutrition and health promotion.
What the service does lack though, are dentists.
Filling the Gap is a response to this deficiency. It is a simple and effective program involving a partnership between Wuchopperen, a community- managed Indigenous health service serving 20,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the north-east region of Queensland, and a group of concerned individuals.
Filling the Gap is privately-funded by benefactors, with a steering committee made up of dentists, community advocates and the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit at the University of NSW.
Dentists volunteer for one or two weeks at a time to work at Wuchopperen, in Cairns. Filling the Gap assists with the airfares, Wuchopperen provides accommodation, registration fees for Queensland and the use of a car. The program is flexible, so it is possible to combine the trip with some time-off in the area afterwards.
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