For over 25 years now, Danila Dilba Biluru Butji Binnilutlum Health Service Aboriginal Corporation (or Danila Dilba Health Service for short) has provided culturally-appropriate health care and community services to Biluru (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) people in the Yilli Reung (greater Darwin) region of the Northern Territory. Aboriginal staff are ‘front and centre’ of the services. Most new clients see an Aboriginal clinician before a doctor.
As well as providing medical care, Danila Dilba:
- runs community programs to promote good health
- encourages Biluru people to undertake health-related training
- advocates on behalf of Biluru on health matters, and
- works to cultivate understanding of Biluru health issues in the wider community.
The original Danila Dilba building, now the men's clinic
The corporation was registered in 1991. The idea was to serve the health needs of Biluru people in a way that acknowledges and works to counter inequities in terms of access to education and employment, poor housing and infrastructure, racism and high rates of incarceration. It took a long time and a lot of dedication to bring it into being.
After Cyclone Tracy hit in 1974, Aboriginal people were evacuated to southern cities where local Aboriginal medical services had started. Darwin people were impressed, and wanted their own. Danila Dilba grew out of the community. People held meetings, lobbied government, lodged petitions and even held a ‘sit-in’ of government offices. They were very keen to have a culturally-appropriate primary health care service for Aboriginal people in Darwin.
When the Danila Dilba Health Service opened on 8 November 1991, it was a proud moment. Local Larrakia traditional custodians gave it the name Danila Dilba Biluru Butji Binnilutlum. In the Larrakia language Danila Dilba means ‘dilly bag used to collect bush medicines’ and Biluru Butji Binnilutlum means ‘Aboriginal people getting better from sickness’.
To start with, the service had seven staff and one building. In 2015–16 two new clinics opened, in Palmerston and Malak. Now, there are six clinics, run by 160 staff, and over 13,000 clients come through the doors each year.
Danila Dilba Health Service is governed by a skilled board representing the diversity of the community and includes a dedicated Larrakia Officer. Members elect the directors from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander residents of the Yilli Rreung region and the board appoints two independent non-member directors.
Aboriginal Health Practitioners Amanda Campbell and Chiquita Bin-Saris outside the new Malak Clinic.
Dr Fiona MacDonald, a senior general practitioner who has been with the service since it began, still loves it:
‘The original staffing numbers were much smaller – two doctors, two drivers, an Aboriginal health worker, a trainee Aboriginal health worker and a receptionist. We later moved to the clinic at Knuckey Street, and from there, Danila Dilba grew very rapidly. Because the need was there. Sometimes it’s difficult, both medically and socially, and things often don’t go well, but I love working with and for the community.’
The service succeeds in offering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people a culturally safe, high-quality service. Staff are 69 per cent Aboriginal and 67 per cent female.
Client satisfaction is also high. One man said:
‘I come here for my health. Whenever I’m feeling sick or there’s something wrong with me, I come here. You get good care straight away here…they fix you up straight away. They treat us really good here at Danila Dilba. They’re on top. I can say that over and over again.’
Wes Carolyn, Customer Service Officer and David Adams, Men’s Clinic Coordinator
Danila Dilba Biluru Butji Binnilutlum Health Service Aboriginal Corporation was in the top 20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations for 2015–16 with an income of $16.8 million (almost identical income to 2014–15). In 2016–17, its revenue increased to $20.4 million. In other words it grew by 21.4 per cent.
Primarily funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Health, Danila Dilba is a highly valued—and valuable—service. In March 2016, a Deloitte review found that each dollar invested in Danila Dilba generates $4.18 of benefit to Australian society.
Tiana McCoy, General Manager of the Palmerston clinic
Since July 2016, when ABC TV’s Four Corners program reported the mistreatment of young people at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre in Darwin, Danila Dilba’s CEO, Olga Havnen, has been active in advocating for a better approach to youth justice. She has spoken on radio and television, and having prepared a submission for the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, she also provided evidence as a witness.
Danila Dilba is one of three organisations appointed to provide support to people affected by the royal commission’s investigation. As well as clinical services, it provides:
- trauma-conscious and culturally safe face-to-face counselling
- practitioners experienced in counselling and support before, during and after the royal commission
- therapeutic group services
- culturally-safe support and advocacy services for young people impacted by youth detention, delivered by practitioners experienced in youth support and engagement.
Two testaments to the corporation’s success are that it has remained in the top 500 for the past nine years, and has a very high staff satisfaction rating. One staffer put it simply as: ‘They’re a great mob to work with.’