Aboriginal CommunityControlled Health
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What are Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services?
Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) are services devoted to the primary healthcare of Aboriginal people.
Primary health generally means healthcare provided by a health care professional when a patient first has contact with the health system.
For Aboriginal people, primary health is about a whole community working together to achieve and maintain well being.
Why?
Because it’s in a community that an individual is able to achieve their full potential as a human being and as a consequence, the whole community’s wellbeing improves.
There are more than 150 ACCHS across Australia.
Some are multi-functional practices with various medical practitioners and others are smaller and rely on Aboriginal Health Workers and/or nurses to carry out most primary health care services.
Primary health care services often have a preventative and health education focus in the following areas:
• Child and maternal health
• Oral and dental health
• Men's and women’s health
• Health checks
• Eye and ear health
• Preventative programs that focus on quitting smoking and healthy eating