Queensland

Rose Mathieson

Hi, my name is Rose Mathieson and I come from Mareeba in Far North Queensland where I was born. I grew up and attended school on Palm Island and spent time travelling between Palm Island and Mareeba as a child.

After finishing school, I commenced working as kitchen hand at the hospital at Palm Island. I then moved into the area of health and worked on the Aboriginal Health Team on Palm Island for 3 years, learning skills while working on-the-job. In September 2005, I commenced working at Mulungu Aboriginal Corporation Medical Centre as a generalist health worker. While in this position, I completed Certificates III and IV in Primary Health Care with the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Workers Education Program.

For the last four years I have been working with the Diabetes program, and now I have become the Diabetes Health Worker in the Diabetes Program at Mulungu. Clinics are held two days a week and we have the Diabetes Educator coming in twice a month.

I was introduced to the QAAMS Program in 2005 when I commenced working at Mulungu and, for the last 4 years, I have coordinated the program being responsible for quality management testing and ordering of supplies in addition to performing patient testing on the DCA 2000.

We perform HbA1c and urine ACR testing on our diabetes patients during their follow-up visits to the clinic and call up patients 3-monthly to ensure that testing is up to date. I find that when I perform point-of-care testing on the DCA 2000, I am able to explain why the testing is being carried out, what the results mean and encourage the clients to keep to their treatment better than when clients are sent for pathology laboratory testing.

It was a great privilege to be asked to take on the leadership for the QAAMS Program and to represent our state in this National Program. I have assisted the QAAMS Management Team members Beryl Mazzachi and Heather Halls with a regional training workshop in May this year in Cairns and I have travelled to some of the North Queensland sites to assist them with their on-line competency training.

I look forward to speaking to and meeting QAAMS operators from services enrolled in QAAMS or services interested in joining QAAMS in 2010.