On the 29th of November 2019, the Southgate Institute hosted the Healthy South Summit to present research findings and facilitate discussion on how to strengthen and coordinate health promotion in the Southern region of Adelaide. The Healthy South project was funded by Health Translation SA through the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Rapid Applied Research Translation Program, and was undertaken in 2019. The researchers from the Southgate working on this project include: Prof Fran Baum, Dr Toby Freeman, Dr Connie Musolino, Dr Helen van Eyk, Dr Michael McGreevy, Dr Matt Fisher, Dr Joanne Flavel, Prof Colin MacDougall and Dr Anna Roesler.
It was a lively and thought-provoking day which was attended by over 80 people including policy leaders from SA Health, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN), urban planners, Southern Adelaide local councils, health and social service workers, researchers, NGOs and community members who came together at the Summit to discuss reinvigorating health promotion leadership and coordination in Southern Adelaide.
Following a Welcome to Country by Aunty Georgina Williams, Melinda Rendell, Regional Manager of Southern Adelaide SA Housing Authority opened the day on behalf of the Minister for Human Services Michelle Lensink and set the tone for a collaborative, intersectoral event. The Hon Chris Picton MP, Shadow Minister for Health and Wellbeing and member for Kaurna then provided a local perspective on how the social determinants of health impact the population in his electorate and the role health promotion has to play in addressing health and social issues.
Presentations on new policy initiatives in South Australia from Lyn Dean, CEO of Wellbeing SA and Sue O’Neill, CEO of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, followed by a Rapid Fire panel on Coordination and Leadership in the South created fruitful discussion about the role of the state government, health system and other organisations in the health promotion system. The panel included: Associate Professor Nicola Spurrier, Chief Public Health Officer, Health Regulation & Protection, Dep Health & Wellbeing, Sue O’Neill, CEO, SALHN, Kris Hanna, Mayor of Marion Council, Graham Brown, CEO, Baptist Care, Dr Gwyn Jolley, Deputy Chair, Healthy Cities Onkaparinga, Associate Professor Tamara Mackean, SALHN Governing Board Member and Michelle Crisp, Manager, Industry Insights, Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing.
The afternoon presentations from the research team in the session ‘Healthy infrastructure for health and wellbeing’, included Carmel Williams, Manager, Health Determinants and Policy, Wellbeing SA presenting an overview of how the Health in All Policies team in SA have been influencing local and regional Planning, and Dr Michael McGreevy presenting the Healthy Urban Neighbourhood Planning Transition Tool (HUNTT), developed during the project. The HUNTT assess the health and liveability of individual neighbourhoods based on a range of social determinants and liveability indicators. A panel of respondents from the planning and health sectors gave enthusiastic feedback about the tool’s potential usability in the planning industry and the community.
The day concluded with a hypothetical panel, Vision for the future: the South in 2040. Facilitated by Professor Colin MacDougall, Southgate Institute. Panel members were asked to imagine that it was 2040 and the south of Adelaide had become the most healthy, equitable and sustainable region in the world, and to brainstorm ideas for how this happened, and what their organisation or sector did to improve health and equity. Ideas included a Treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s, investment in green manufacturing, investment in public schools, neighbourhood community hubs combining health services and health promoting activities, introduction of a job guarantee and a universal basic income, amongst many others.
The video (mp4 file size 4GB) of the hypothetical panel is available via this link.
