Wes Miller: new Manager of Indigenous Health Program at the Fred Hollows Foundation

The following summary has been adapted from the ABC and Fred Hollows Foundation media releases, 1 March 2005

The Fred Hollows Foundation recently announced the appointment of Wes Miller as Manager of its Indigenous Health Program. The program works with local partners and has a specific focus on nutrition, child and maternal health, literacy, and remote community stores management in the Jawoyn communities east of Katherine in the Northern Territory (NT).

Brian Doolan, the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, commented that ‘Mr Miller’s extensive experience and knowledge places him in the perfect position to lead our Indigenous Health Program and continue the excellent work The Foundation and its partners are undertaking to help address the health crisis in remote Indigenous communities.’

Mr Miller‘s mother and grandmother are both from Jawoyn country and he has worked in the Katherine region for many years. He has held leadership positions at the Katherine Region Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (KRALAS), the Aboriginal medical service (Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service) , the Northern Land Council’s office in Katherine and the NT Health Department. He was also one of the original ATSIC regional councillors for the region.

Most recently Mr Miller has worked as the Top End Primary Health Care Access Program officer for the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), building the capacity of community health boards so that they can be managed by Indigenous people.

Mr Miller said he looked forward to the challenge of the role and the opportunity to increase the depth and scope of the programs in both the Katherine region and nationally. He said: ‘I am passionate about this area of work because I firmly believe that improvements in the health and well-being of Aboriginal people are governed by and large by the levels of control we have over our personal lives and over the organisations that we ourselves establish or are established for our benefit.’

Image has been reproduced with the kind permission of the Fred Hollows Foundation