Clough is pleased to announce it has renewed its community partnership with Starlight Children’s Foundation, supporting the Healthier Futures Initiative in collaboration with the Earbus Foundation and Deadly Ears.

Starlight’s Healthier Futures Initiative supports improved health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Partnering with healthcare professionals, Captain Starlight visits kids in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to help make health clinic experiences more positive for children and their families. 

By enhancing the clinic experience through fun and play, Starlight boosts community engagement and participation in the healthcare system, which means more children from remote communities are receiving the vital healthcare they need. 

Louise Baxter, Starlight CEO, said: “Children are our future, and supporting their health, wellbeing and resilience can ensure their future is bright. Through our Healthier Futures Initiative, Starlight partners with healthcare professionals to create positive healthcare experiences for kids and families in regional and remote Australia. By encouraging clinic participation through positive distraction and play, there is greater opportunity for early intervention and treatment of preventable diseases, supporting improved health outcomes.  We couldn’t do what we do without community support, and so we’re delighted for Clough’s ongoing commitment to support sick kids when they need it most” 

Peter Bennett, Clough CEO, said: "I am delighted for the Clough to continue its long-standing community partnership with Starlight Children's Foundation, championing the Healthier Futures Initiative. Our continued commitment to this initiative underscores our dedication to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. By joining forces with Starlight and in collaboration with Earbus Foundation and Deadly Ears, we are not only enhancing the clinic experience for children and families but fostering stronger connections within communities and the healthcare system.”

This collaboration is committed to reducing the incidence of chronic middle ear disease throughout Indigenous and other vulnerable rural communities. One of the core implications of the disease being its impediment to education, can have catastrophic effects on these communities by entrenching poverty and lower standards of living. 

Through the formation of such collaborative partnerships, the prevalence of the disease should be lowered, as with the discomfort typically associated with its treatment resulting in happier, healthier communities overall.

Together, we are proud to support positive healthcare experiences for children in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, to deliver on Starlight’s mission to brighten the lives of seriously ill and hospitalised children and young people. 

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