Earbus Keynote at National Conference
Earbus Foundation ‘s Paul Higginbotham (pictured) and Lara Shur presented a well-received keynote address to the National Indigenous Health Conference held in Cairns from November 25th to 27th. Voted the best presentation on the Conference’s opening day, EFWA presenters showcased the Earbus as a model of collaborative social impact and outlined how programs are destined to fail unless they plan around the five key elements of collaboration. Based on the work of researchers Kania & Kramer in the United States the EFWA team’s presentation detailed how the Earbus model includes the five key elements required for working together to address complex social issues like Aboriginal ear health.
The WA Earbus Program was designed as a sophisticated and collaborative primary care model under Ken Wyatt’s leadership at the WA Office of Aboriginal Health. Before implementation the model was workshopped with Indigenous educators to ensure all children could be reached, treated and tracked until they had healthy ears and could hear well.