We are delighted to welcome Ginny McKinnon to the Victorian Healthcare Association (VHA) team. Ginny has recently joined us, bringing a wealth of experience from her extensive career in the community sector. Her expertise in policy, mental health, and leadership will be invaluable as we continue to advocate for and support the healthcare community in Victoria.
Ginny: I spent the first 15 years of my professional career working in the community sector. My roles were diverse and included working in Community Legal Centres, Youth Homelessness, Youth Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) and Adult AOD Treatment and Support. My areas of particular interest and expertise are social equity, harm reduction and challenging marginalisation and stigma. My work in these areas and my qualifications in addiction, mental health and leadership and management have helped me to recognise that the earlier we provide support to people with complex health needs and address the social determinants of health, the better outcomes there are for individuals, the health system, and the broader community.
My passion for healthcare-related policy and advocacy eventually led me to the Department of Health, where I worked in the Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Strategy team. My portfolio areas included drugs and drug use surveillance including early warning systems, working with key service stakeholders in a review of Victoria’s pharmacotherapy system and looking at the connections between AOD use and suicide, both in the veteran community and the wider Victorian community. My learnings from this time about government systems and processes, as well as the strong networks I have built have helped me to build a more holistic view of the challenges and opportunities facing the health and community sectors in Victoria.
I was drawn to the VHA for several reasons. I’m excited to join a member-based organisation and to work with members to advocate for a best-practice, equitable healthcare system that delivers universal health care. I also feel that my values align well with the values and strategic plan of the VHA, and I’m passionate about reducing social inequity particularly where it intersects with health.
Ginny: I am working closely with the rest of the policy and advocacy team at the VHA to strategise for the challenges our members face in the coming year, as well as looking at the longer-term policy landscape and areas of growing need. I’m thrilled that one of my first pieces of work will be to work with our community health service members. 50 years ago, Australia established a community health program, and through my previous roles I have had the pleasure of seeing firsthand the different that this now Victorian-unique model makes to the health and wellbeing of the most complex and marginalised Victorians. The community health model enables services to work hand in hand with their communities, other healthcare providers and with the Victorian government to offer timely and innovative responses to identified need. The multidisciplinary model allows these services to provide holistic care including prevention, identification, and early intervention, supporting Victorians to stay in their communities and avoiding extra burden on actue care services. I look forward to working with community health services and the wider VHA membership to face the challenges ahead and to continue to build a strong, sustainable public health system with a healthy, diverse workforce that mirrors the diversity in our communities.
Ginny: The public health space is both immensely challenging and rewarding. The last few years have seen a world-changing pandemic as well as a number of more localised challenges such as climate-related emergencies impacting on healthcare systems, increased cost of living pressures for all Victorians, ongoing challenges to the healthcare system including workforce shortages and intense pressure on the existing staff force, as well as an ageing population and an increase in chronic disease to name a few! These challenges will continue and I’m passionate about working in partnership with all stakeholders to increase health equity and address the social determinants of health, advocate for the health and wellbeing of healthcare services and their staff, and most of all working to increase the overall health and wellbeing of all Victorians.