‘It’s not just a health centre, it’s a community centre’

The old pump house next to the river at Murray Bridge ‘had its charms’, says Rural Generalist Dr Patrick Sprau, but ‘it wasn’t a clinic’.
 
As one of the three former homes of the Moorundi Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service in Murray Bridge, on the banks of South Australia’s Murray River, the pump house was clearly not purpose-built for medical services.
 
But today, Dr Sprau, who is one of five GPs at Moorundi, works in what he says is ‘probably the best building I’ve ever had to provide medical care from’.
 
‘It’s all modern, it’s purpose-built. You can do good work from a lot of places, but to have a place like this, it’s a blessing,’ he told newsGP.
 
In August, 23 years after the need for a dedicated Aboriginal health service was identified by the Ngarrindjeri community, the new $10 million Moorundi Health Centre opened.
 
The long-awaited facility was realised with more than $8.9 million in funding from the Federal Government and $1.1 million from the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation.
 
Designed in collaboration with Moorundi staff and Aboriginal members, the building and its services offer a welcoming and culturally safe space, with a strong focus on cultural knowledge and language.
 
The more than 40 staff members provide services including primary health care, allied health and integrated team care, social and emotional wellbeing counselling, mental health support, wellbeing services, Elders and children’s programs, even a transport service to collect patients and return them home when needed.
 
Dr Clare Frawley, RACGP SA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representative, told newsGP Moorundi is ‘purpose-built for the community, designed by the community, for the community’.
 
‘They’ve put a lot of thought into what would make a safe space for people to come and meet,’ she said.
 
‘It’s not just a health centre, it’s a community centre.
 
‘People that maybe haven’t been frequent visitors before to the clinic have been coming in because it is becoming a community hub for the local area.’
 
The word ‘Moorundi’ means river and refers directly to the Murray River, where all life begins for the Ngarrindjeri nation.
 
For the Ngarrindjeri people, health and water are linked to culture, and these themes flow throughout the new facility.
 
Dried local grasses and reeds have been woven into sculptural light shades that cast an earthy warm light from the ceilings. They surround a large woven Nori (pelican) – an important Ngartji (totem) for Ngarrindjeri people – that watches over visitors in reception.
 
Artwork reflecting culture adorns the walls. Down corridors, weaving light strips evoke the sacred Murray waterway. Plaques on walls, and on the ground outside honour the work of those past and present who helped bring the new facility to fruition.
 
‘People sit in the waiting area, and they look at this, and they marvel at it,’ says Dr Sprau.
 
‘Particularly the older generation, they’ve been around for long enough to know what a struggle it was to build this, to get this across the line. So, there’s a lot of humble pride in what was achieved.
 
‘This is theirs.’
 
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Aboriginal health Aboriginal healthcare ACCHO cultural care cultural connection culturally safe Elders