Mark Butterworth, Chief Allied Health Practitioner

August was Multicultural Month. Thank you to all who made an effort to recognise diversity throughout our service. Focused months, like August, remind us to consider the diversity of our staff, patients and consumers. Coming to a health service can be confusing – especially if it is unfamiliar to your different culture, language or religion.

I encourage all to make your work area and services as welcoming as possible to all. To help, Metro North has made a number of improvements to our overarching multicultural services this year including:

• A single unified number to book interpreters and translations (including AUSLAN): 3647 2000
• Piloting the use of In-House Interpreters
• The adoption of CALD Assist – a smart phone app for iPhone and Android that contains over 250 pre-translated phrases in a range of languages.

I encourage everyone to embrace our values and make Metro North welcoming to everyone.  If you have any local initiatives, big or small, supporting multicultural care participants I would love to hear about them.

Mark.