The ACP International Conference provides an unmatched opportunity for our members to learn from experts and leaders in paramedicine. ACPIC 2021 was delivered as a hybrid conference (online and face to face in the Sunshine Coast, QLD and Hobart, TAS) in November 2021.

In 2018, Dr Nova Evans and Sonia Martin left their public health sector roles to address the access inequity for Australians experiencing homelessness and poverty. In this session, they shall discuss the issues that people in poverty have accessing healthcare, their model of care within their health service Sunny Street, and the impact the service has had on the community. Essentially, they believe that working with a philosophy of kindness, transparency, & an ‘unmasking’ of the professional self, is the only way forward in healthcare.

Biography: Sonia Martin

Sonia Martin met Dr Nova Evans in February 2017 whilst working in the Public Health System. Within their employed roles, Sonia & Nova worked as managers of services whose primary focus was to discharge people safely home from the hospital system.

As skilled leaders, they began to search for a way to positively impact the local community’s healthcare at an individual level. Sonia & Nova decided they had 20 – 30 years of their professional years left to make a difference as health professionals in Australia.

After spending time together discussing their professional drivers and passions and viewing the shocking data around Australians experiencing homelessness and poverty, they set about to influence lives of vulnerable Australians in a positive way. In 2018 Sonia & Nova created a new model of care, and a new healthcare service named Sunny Street, which has now had over 30,000 conversations and consultations with people doing it tough in Australia.

Sunny Street offers the chance for people to take the time and have a conversation with a Nurse and/or a Doctor regarding their health journey. The Sunny Street teams meet people where they’re at in their lives, and create a psychologically safe space to be heard.

Sonia and Nova are passionate about thinking outside the box for solutions to challenges and actioning change within healthcare.

Session moderator: Hayley Grant