8 SpeakOut
April 2014
SpeechPathology Australia
On 20March 2014
it was not
onlyNational Close theGapDay,
but also the day that Indigenous Allied
HealthAustralia (IAHA), AlliedHealth
Professions Australia (AHPA), AHPA’s
18member organisations and four
affiliate organisations signed a
Statement of Intent towork together
to achieve equality in health status
and life expectancy betweenAboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples
and non-Indigenous Australians by
year 2030.
SpeechPathology Australiawas
very pleased tobe signatory to the
Statement of Intent as one of the
member organisations of AHPA.
RepresentedbyGail Mulcair, CEO,
SpeechPathology Australiamade
a commitment to joint activities that
will build and strengthen the allied
healthworkforce tomeet the complex
healthcare needs of Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples. As
Chair of AHPA, Professor Lyn Littlefield
stated, “this includes increasing the
number of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people participating
in the allied healthworkforce
and strengthening the cultural
responsiveness of all allied health
students and graduates”.
The signing ceremonywas held at
Parliament House inCanberra and
waswitnessedby theSocial Justice
CommissionerMickGooda andSenator
theHon. FionaNash, AssistantMinister
for Health.
SpeechPathology Australia looks
forward toworking alongsideAHPA and
the IAHA on this important initiative.
GAILMULCAIR
Chief ExecutiveOfficer
Close theGap–SigningStatement of Intent
Patricia Thomas (National President, AOA), Senator FionaNash, SpeechPathology AustraliaCEOGail Mulcair
andProf Lyn Littlefield (Chair, AHPA) at theAHPAStatement of Intent signing ceremony, held onNational
Close theGapDay at Parliament House, Canberra.
associationnews
SPAFacebookandTwitterhighlights
fromFebruary toApril 2014 included...
SPAonlineupdate
Left: SPAstaff
celebrated theNational
StrokeFoundation's
launchof theStroke
SolidarityString
duringApril. The
stringsymbolises the
connectionbetween
people touchedby
stroke.Wearing it
showsweareunited
andpart of theglobal
movement tostop
stroke–Wear it. Show
it. Share it.
ICP2014officially launchedon
Friday21February,withSPA
PresidentDebTheodoros (left)
takingpart in theGoogleHangout
discussionabout theglobal scale
of communicationdisorderswith
theheadsof sixof theworld's
speechpathologyorganisations.
Checkout
orwatch it via
.
Left:Checkout theRCSLT's
VoiceBoxworthywinner Jack
Johnsonwithcomedianand
supporter LeeMack.
VoiceBox isa joint initiativeof
theRoyal Collegeof Speechand
LanguageTherapistsandThe
CommunicationTrust anduses
joke telling to raiseawarenessof
the importanceof communication.
Checkout Jack’swinning jokevia
!
