Associate Professor Carmen Parter had always dreamed of being a nurse, but when she started in the 1980s the profession had very few Indigenous practitioners and the idea of a culturally safe healthcare system was "almost non-existent".
In the decades since, the proud descendent of the Darumbal and Juru clans of the Birra Gubba Nation with South Sea Islander heritage has seen and helped lead changes across Australia's healthcare system, but she notes that "the most important lessons still need to be learned".
Assoc Prof Parter recently joined the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency podcast Taking Care to discuss the impact of racism in healthcare.
Prof Parter talked about her nursing days when there were almost no Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander faces working on the hospital ward and very little time given to the health needs of Indigenous people. She also spoke about the cultural safety work being done and the challenges to make these policies a reality in the healthcare system.
"There weren't many black faces in the hospital at that time,' she told Taking Care host Tash Miles.
"At that time in the '80s, there was nothing about Aboriginal health, nothing talking about communities' needs or their health needs.
"Cultural safety around that time probably wasn't a word that was used … certainly health services delivery was not good.
Today, Prof Parter holds many roles - a Fellow of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Congress of Nurses and Midwives and the Public Health Association of Australia; an AHPRA Board member; co-Founder and Director at the Learning Centre for Systemic Change and Research; and a member of the Lowitja Institute community. She also works part-time at Djurali, of Macquarie University.
Prof Parter has seen intentional and unintentional racism in the system, which she is committed to helping reform.
"Racism makes us sick. Discrimination of all forms impacts the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," she said.
"We've seen it. We've felt it. But now we actually have evidence to demonstrate that is the case, and it is now time for health policymakers and services to actually do something about discrimination or prejudiced practices in the workplace."
In her work on Indigenous health and as a member of the AHPRA Board, Prof Parter is rolling out culturally safe policies across health and "calling all to walk with her while tackling racism".
"It's a big agenda for AHPRA now to really think about how do we do this and what is required to do this, and really put aside what you think needs to be done, but rather walk with us and address this, learn about what has to happen," she said.
"The biggest change is in the area of cultural safety. Even in my time when I started in the '80s, even 10 years ago, we couldn't talk about racism.
"And the cultural safety framework is the framework to address racism in the healthcare system."
