Maida Stewart is passionate about working with Indigenous communities to build health and wellbeing, especially with people impacted by acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Maida is a Wemba Wemba/Wergaia woman who has lived in the Northern Territory for over 29 years.
In 2018, Maida was awarded a Bob and June Prickett sponsored Churchill Fellowship to investigate innovative healthy housing initiatives and programs in Maori and Pasifika communities with high rates of rheumatic fever in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
In March 2021 Maida became the Champions4Change project coordinator with RHDAustralia. By establishing and building meaning relationships and encouraging networking between individuals and communities, Maida will work with Champions to prioritise their social and emotional well-being, and support their capacity building, community education, and health promotion, and placed based activities in their communities.
Since 2003 Maida has worked as an Aboriginal Health Practitioner with the Danila Dilba Health Service, Northern Territory, where she provides culturally appropriate and responsive health care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in the greater Darwin region. She has seen hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with ARF and RHD, many of whom experience homelessness or live in crowded dwellings.
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