\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa FROM ADELAIDE TO CANBERRA- OUR VOICE AT FECCA 2026!<\/p>\n
This week, Prima Nota has been given an extraordinary opportunity: to contribute to a national conversation about poverty, inequality, healthcare and belonging- in the very heart of Australia\u2019s policymaking landscape.<\/p>\n
We are immensely proud that our co-authored abstract,<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond Cultural Difference: Poverty, Trust and Belonging Across Marginalised Communities in Four Countries\u201d<\/p>\n
by Nina Iouguina and Dr Shawn Michael O\u2019Donnell, has been selected for presentation at the FECCA 2026 National Conference in Canberra.<\/p>\n
The presentation will be delivered on Thursday, 15 October, at Old Parliament House, by Dr Shawn Michael O\u2019Donnell.<\/p>\n
And we could hardly imagine a more appropriate person to bring these experiences to a national audience.<\/p>\n
Dr O\u2019Donnell brings approximately three decades of frontline medical experience across four countries.<\/p>\n
His career has taken him far beyond conventional clinical practice.<\/p>\n
He served as Chief of Medical Staff at a remote hospital serving the Norway House Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, Canada, where access to healthcare was shaped by extraordinary geographical, social and economic challenges.<\/p>\n
He has worked with First Nations and Inuit communities, undocumented migrant farmworkers, and people experiencing severe socioeconomic disadvantage across North America, Ireland and Australia.<\/p>\n
He has witnessed the devastating consequences of poverty firsthand: preventable illness, substance dependence, family violence, mental health crises, and the profound hopelessness that can take hold when communities feel forgotten.<\/p>\n
Different countries. Different cultures. Remarkably similar human struggles.<\/p>\n
Our presentation challenges a fundamental assumption: that cultural difference alone explains the difficulties marginalised communities experience.<\/p>\n
What happens when poverty, exclusion and a breakdown of trust are more powerful determinants of wellbeing than language, ethnicity or nationality?<\/p>\n
And what must policymakers understand before designing services for the communities they intend to help?<\/p>\n
Through Dr O\u2019Donnell\u2019s medical experience and our community work, we hope to bring these questions into sharper focus.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udf3f For a small, grassroots South Australian charity, this is a significant milestone.<\/p>\n
FECCA brings together national multicultural leaders, policymakers, government representatives and community advocates to discuss the future of multicultural Australia.<\/p>\n
We are proud that our perspectives will form part of that conversation.<\/p>\n
Because communities should not simply be the subjects of policy. Their experiences should help shape it.<\/p>\n
#FECCA2026 #PrimaNotaInc #ManyStoriesOneFuture #HealthEquity #MulticulturalAustralia #CommunityVoices #SocialInclusion<\/p>\n