The THS Environmental Health Program has a Territory-wide commitment to reducing the amount of disease in the community caused by physical, chemical, radiological and biological factors in the environment.
There are 27 Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) in the NT. Some EHOs work only in towns, some only work in remote settings. Others are based in urban centres such as Katherine, Tennant Creek, and East Arnhem, and work in both rural and urban settings.
| The workload is huge When I was in East Arnhem by myself there were 9 communities I was responsible for. Because of that, at the moment we tend to just go to communities where there are Environmental Health Workers. There aren't enough of us to go around. Phil Donohoe, EHO, Top End |
The work of EHOs supports Primary Health Care practice. EHOs' main responsibilities are:
| From experience … I remember when I first went to the community I spent most of my time with, I had every contraption known to man stuffed into the back of the work Toyota (TV, video, microscope, text books, camera and the machine that goes bing). This was due to my uncertainty of my role and lack of planning and direction in organising the program*. I went to the community regularly once a month for two and a half years. It was a continual process. I got to know some people who were interested in doing minor health hardware maintenance jobs and we started to work together. They taught me more than I probably taught them. We had a lot of fun. I tried to develop a system for the EHWs so they could operate independent of my involvement. Set up the kind of structure that a program could rely on for continuity over time. I consciously worked to avoid the program being dependant on the personalities of those involved. It was a good program, people were really active and involved. When it came time for me to leave, things started to go wrong. In real terms I didn't achieve what we set out to organise. To keep the program going after I left things needed to happen well ahead of time, to allow enough time for handover. This was really necessary for the program to continue. I understand that there are lots of reasons why situations like this develop. Staff turn over is high and management sometimes isn't as responsive as it could be to the needs of people and projects out bush. But the success of programs really needs management to be very involved in the work so we can keep building on our gains. Sometimes I feel sorry for Aboriginal people who live in remote areas. They make so much effort. They are so affected by circumstances which seem to be, or are, out of their control. Environmental Health Officer |
*Another view on this is that "carrying all the gear demonstrated flexibility, willingness to fit in with the community agenda and confidence with the use of technology" (another EHO).
The work of the Environmental Health Officers is guided and supported by the following:
| It can be a bit tricky … The EHOs have a legal role in food hygiene. Like health policeman - health inspection stuff. We have to do this sort of statutory work a couple of times a year on communities. But most of our work is community development focussed. It can be a bit tricky if say, the private take-away is owned by a traditional owner. It makes it difficult to address the statutory environmental health issues and at the same time develop relationships in the community with various people and organisations which are essential for our primary health care, community development role. So you have to be pretty careful about how you approach that policing role. I would always work with one of the EHWs, not on my own. Phil Donohoe, EHO |