South Australia & Northern Territory

Sandy Wilson

My name is Sandra [prefer Sandy] Wilson. I’m a Ngarrindjeri woman. I was born at Point McLeay which is now known as Raukkan, situated on Lake Alexandrina. I spent the early years of my life on Raukkan. I worked on and off for many years with Aboriginal Education (State Gov) & Catholic Education as an Aboriginal Education Worker. I became an Aboriginal Health Worker due to an interest in health and a desire to return to the country and build relationships with family. I am currently the Aboriginal Healthy Living Coordinator, Country Health SA based at the Aboriginal Primary Health Care Unit, Murray Bridge, responsible for the development, implementation and evaluation of Regional Aboriginal Healthy Living Programs across Adelaide Hills, Mallee Coorong, Southern Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island areas of Country Health SA.

In my current and previous health service roles, I have been the QAAMS coordinator and have participated in HbA1c and urine ACR testing. I met Dr Mark Shephard in 2001 at Flinders University where I was undertaking the Graduate Certificate In Health (Diabetes Management and Education) when he spoke about the program at Coober Pedy. I thought that a great benefit of the QAAMS Program was that Aboriginal Health Workers were the first point of contact with community people, being able to carry out point-of-care testing in the health service and community clinics. After much consultation, I was able to attend training on how to use the DCA 2000 machine and had an opportunity to trial the QAAMS Program at Meningie, then branching to Murray Bridge. Being able to do POC testing was brilliant, but in the early days, more support was needed at the health service level.

I have also found that the QAAMS Program is appreciated by clients. The clients think it’s great when they come into the Aboriginal health service and have a fingerprick of blood for tests measured on the point of care machine. It’s quick and easy, their results are ready in 6 minutes.

I look forward to serving as QAAMS Leader for South Australia and to meeting with and assisting all QAAMS participants especially those from SA.