Bush Medicine
Two ways of healing, side by side. Traditional healers and bush medicine work alongside clinical care, as they have at Urapuntja since the beginning.
Healing at Urapuntja has always worked two ways. From our earliest days the service recognised Ngangkeres, traditional healers, as central to health care on the homelands. When the service employed its first medical officer in 1980, a Ngangkere was on staff alongside the nurses and Aboriginal Health Workers.
The program today
- Traditional healing alongside clinical care. Patients can ask for a Ngangkere as part of their care at the clinic.
- Bush medicine preparation. Collecting and preparing traditional medicines, led by the senior women and men who hold that knowledge.
- Passing knowledge on. Trips on Country where young people learn the plants, the preparation and the stories that carry them.
Why it matters
Health care that respects both systems of knowledge is health care people trust. Bush medicine is not an add-on at Urapuntja. It has been part of who we are since before the service had a name.