Kids in remote communities need your help

Support healthier futures for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander kids

Did you know that our Healthier Futures Initiative actively improves the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in remote communities?

The kids we visit in remote communities have some of the highest levels of preventable diseases in the world. We want to change this, so we work closely with health professionals and the mobile clinics visiting communities to help tackle this issue. But we need your help.

Help us secure the continued presence of Captain Starlight at the mobile health clinics. When Captain Starlight returns regularly to communities, it helps promote familiarity, trust, and a sense of excitement.

Captain Starlight accompanies mobile clinics to communities, helping kids feel less anxious about visits to the doctors and nurses. Making the clinics a positive experience means the appointment attendance rates have dramatically improved, meaning more kids get their vital health checks and treatments they need for improved long-term wellbeing.

Captain Starlight enhances the healthcare experience through games, music, storytelling and child-led play, encouraging improved attendance at local health checks, reducing anxiety, and promoting positive relationships between clinicians and the community.

“Meeting Captain Starlight in community eases the anxiety and discomfort associated with clinic attendance and can help to develop a better relationship between the child and the healthcare services.

The Captain Starlight program also assists in building the capacity of mobile health professional teams by increasing reach and providing support by entertaining the children.”

Physician, Northern Territory

For children requiring a higher level of care, previous interactions with Captain Starlight within their community can significantly decrease the stress of hospital treatment should they need it. Knowing Captain Starlight will be there to greet them in the hospital setting creates a positive connection between hospital and home.

In increasing engagement with both preventative and critical health care services Starlight’s Healthier Futures Initiative will continue to drive long-term change. Through the promotion of positive health care practices and the resulting improvements in future health outcomes, Starlight can continue to help decrease the significant rate of preventable disease currently experienced in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.