I see
Host: Myroodah Station
Written by Pam Daniell – Manager, Myroodah Station.
There’s been a well-worn track forged between Myroodah Station and the local community of Looma’s Health Clinic over the years. Many of our staff have visited the clinic for varying forms of treatment at one stage or another. It is a professional team of nurses and staff that allow the Clinic to operate smoothly and efficiently and we are fortunate for both the proximity of the facility to Myroodah, and also the good relationship we have established with them.
Diabetes is a big problem in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. According to Diabetes Australia about 1 in 3 Indigenous Australians will get diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy (damage to the blood vessels in the retina) is caused by complications of diabetes which can eventually lead to blindness. The prevalence of self-reported diabetes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged over 40 years in the National Indigenous Eye Health Survey was 37% (Goujon et al. 2010). This is seven times as high as self-reported diabetes in other Australians aged 40 years and over (McCarty et al. 1998).
During 2015 the Indigenous Eye Health Unit at The University of Melbourne collaborated with the Looma Health Clinic and Indigenous Hip Hop Project to create a music video to raise awareness around the issue of diabetes and eye health in Indigenous communities.
Community members from the health clinic approached Myroodah to ask if some filming of their music clip could take place out on the station and also if some of our staff could be involved. The community members with the support of the Indigenous Hip Hop Project wrote a song about all the things they valued and loved doing and “seeing” in the Kimberley and why vision loss would have a huge impact on these things.
One of the filming locations on Myroodah Station.
After the song was produced, the film and music crew, along with community members and the team from Melbourne Uni arrived at Myroodah in convoy. The staff were a little nervous with what would be expected from them, but they threw themselves in to the project and had a lot of fun in the filming process.
Film crew talking with Myroodah Station Staff and community members.
Station staff preparing to be filmed.
The end result was the music clip “See What I See”. This music video will form part of a National Campaign encouraging community members with diabetes to get a yearly eye check and to raise awareness among the community around prevention and treatment for eye health.
Staff at Myroodah can still be found singing along to the catchy tune and it was a very worthwhile project to be part of.
Stockmen Kamis Johnson, Liam Pindan, and Rodney Dan waiting for their scene.