Close the Gap Day raises awareness

Over 200 people attended Boab Health’s Close the Gap community event on  Male Oval to  acknowledge National Close the Gap Day on March 17th,  which is a national day of action to pledge support for achieving Indigenous health equality by 2030.  The event aimed to bring people together, to share information, deliver positive health messages to the community and to take meaningful action in support of achieving Indigenous health equality. The event attracted a diverse crowd including local community members, Aboriginal Health Worker students, school groups from Broome Girls Academy (pictured left), Karratha Clontarf Academy, and a few tourists.

The event was coordinated by Boab Health Services Closing the Gap team. This year we had fantastic local support from a range of local agencies including Mens Outreach, Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services, BRAMS, Kimberley Renal Services, Kimberley Population Health Unit, Cancer Council WA, Headspace, Red Cross, Broome Circle, Nirrumbuk, Aboriginal Family Law Services, Goolarri Media and Boab Health Services’ Dieticians, Podiatrists and Diabetes Educators

A healthy barbecue was kindly provided by Mens Outreach service who cooked up over 100 portions of local fish and salad, and live music was provide by local musicians. Popular activities included sampling boab leaf stew (pictured below), blind taste testing between normal and iron fortified water, kicking a footy wearing beer googles to demonstrate the effects of alcohol, a fruit and veggie basket raffle, blood sugar testing and smoking cessation activities.

The event was a great success thanks to the positive response from the community and the combined impact of local agencies working together to share information, raise awareness of health issues and demonstrate support for Closing the Gap.