Ophthalmologist: Dr. Kris Rallah-Baker
Introduction
Dr. Kris Rallah-Baker is the nation's first Aboriginal ophthalmologist.
On his mother's side, Rallah-Baker
is a Biri-Gubba-Juru/Yuggera man, descended from the people of north
Queensland and Brisbane. She is part-Indian, too, but he identifies as
Aboriginal because "that is the culture I live in". And he is proud of his
father's bloodlines: Scottish, Jewish and, only recently discovered, an
indigenous Australian heritage that is "still emerging".
Two of Rallah-Baker's brothers are dentists. He is one of 204 indigenous
doctors in the country, on the count of the Australian Indigenous Doctors
Association. Its president, Tammy Kimpton – his classmate at Newcastle
University – stresses the importance of the cultural bridge being created
for indigenous patients, many of whom associate hospitals with death.
(Source:
SMH 4 October 2014)
(Source:
SMH 4 October 2014)
Education:
Kris is a graduate of the
University of Newcastle at the School of Medicine and Public Health
class of 2003.
Rallah-Baker has been the senior outreach registrar based at Royal Darwin Hospital, among teams employed by the Northern Territory government but funded by The Fred Hollows Foundation to fly or drive to remote places to restore or save the eyesight of their inhabitants. (Source: SMH)
Work Experience:
Kris has worked at Department of Ophthalmology, The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia (Source: BMC)
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 The
Fred Hollows Foundation Also at: SMH |
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Online:
A Video Game for
Clean
Faces, Strong Eyes!
Middle
Secondary
Australian
Curriculum General Capability: ICT Capability
Australian
Curriculum General Capability: Critical & Creative Thinking
Australian
Curriculum General Capability: Literacy
Australian
Curriculum Cross Curriculum Priorities:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures
1. The slogan "Clean Faces, Strong Eyes" (2012) has helped reduce Trachoma [bacterial infection of the eyes that can lead to blindness] in Aboriginal populations from 14% to less than 4%.
(Source: ABC: RN Breakfast)
2. The health promotion message "Clean Faces, Strong Eyes" is brought to life in many remote communities with original songs, videos, television adverts and animations by well-known Indigenous artists, hip hop performers, children's television characters, and school children and adults from remote Indigenous communities.
(Source: University of Melbourne: Melbourne School of Population and Global Health: Indigenous Eye Health Unit)3. Aboriginal children who have access to mirrors to see if their faces are clean or not and who also have access to clean water have taken to this message of Clean faces, strong eyes.
However, the last 4% of children still infected needs to be addressed and the children who know the message need it to be reinforced in a different way.
To reinforce this message, use the resources at University of Melbourne to give you ideas about developing a new video game that will reinforce the message of "Clean Faces, Strong Eyes".
4. Go to YoYo Games and using the Free version, create an interactive game that will reinforce the slogan "Clean faces, strong eyes".
5. Put your video game onto the web and send "On the Job" the URL by going to:
6.
Discuss as a group, what you would do to help the last 4% of Aboriginal children be rid of this disease.
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