Cyril Oliver was appointed Danila Dilba’s Link person in
March 2006 and has already made a significant contribution to the
CRC for Aboriginal Health.
Cyril, a Kuku Yalanji man from Cape York, grew up in Cairns but
has lived in the Northern Territory for more than 20 years. He
lived and worked for five years as Aged-Care Coordinator at
Maningrida, where he was instrumental in establishing the Malala
aged-care facility.
Cyril says that although the research world is new to him, he
sees his Link person role as providing an opportunity to expand his
experiences and better explain the importance of research to his
colleagues and the wider Aboriginal community.
'Whether it’s improving health services or just buying a
new washing machine, you’ve always got to do research to make
sure you achieve the results you want,' he says. 'If you
don’t do the research, you’re going to be way off the
mark; you won’t be able to help anyone. Research is very much
part of everyone’s daily life, whether they know it or
not.'
'I reckon the Link person’s role is just as important as
the researcher; you need someone to link the researcher and the
community and my job as a Link person for a community-controlled
health service is partly about that. Most of my working career has
been about community development and I’m now balancing that
with some research experience.'
One of Cyril’s passions is improving the quality of
Aboriginal health promotion and education resources, which he says
are often inappropriate.
'Governments spend millions of dollars on health promotion,
which in rural and remote areas is often ineffective and written in
jargon. I’m not convinced that written resources are very
effective for remote people anyway. We need to start thinking about
new ways of getting health messages out to our people,' he
says.
Cyril is working with the CRC for Aboriginal Health and planning
a series of research seminars for Danila Dilba staff that will
start in the new financial year.
From CRCAH Annual
Report 2005/2006
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