Jeremy is a Registered Nurse at the Cairns Hospital. He is a proud Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal man from South Australia who has passion for equal opportunities, cultural safety and family.
Jeremy has worked in the Cairns ED for eight years, where he assists staff and patients in all levels of safety, particularly Cultural Safety.
Jeremy has been an active member of the Cultural Safety Reference Group in his department, and recently submitted changes to their Terms of Reference to highlight the need for First Nations leadership in nursing. As part of this group, he has rolled out in-services in this space as well as supported Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in an unofficial leadership role. As an Aboriginal man, Jeremy feels the responsibility to fulfill this role despite having faced some adversity, and strives to make steps forward for First Nations nurses to receive recognition.
As a senior member of the ED, Jeremy regularly offers education to staff for a variety of reasons, including rollouts of the research projects such as the First Nations Coronary Artery Disease study.
As someone who is keenly interested in and participates in research, particularly First Nations research, Jeremy is proud to deliver new changes to the workforce, as well as advocating and assisting with applications for finance to further the First Nations research in Cairns.
"I once told my nephew that I was going to uni, and he said to me, “What do you mean? How can you study at university?” I never knew what that meant, but 10 years later, I now realise this little kid didn’t even think he had an opportunity to go to university. He’s been told his whole life through society that he wasn’t good enough. I had to break down walls to eventually get to my position with all the degrees and things that I’ve done, which is probably the highlight of my career – I feel proud of myself for what I’ve done."
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