The holistic community health enterprise, Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aborigibal Corporation, has won the inaugural Ethical Enterprise Award 2013, a national awards program recognising and celebrating Australia’s most inspirational enterprise.
The award recognizes enterprises for the positive social and economic impact they have had through their innovative ethical practices.
Announced at the opening of Fair@Square in the Victorian state capital, Melbourne, Western Desert Dialysis, also known as the Purple House, has shown the true benefits to tackling a major health issue at a community level.
A not-for-profit, non-Government Indigenous-governed health organisation, Western Desert Dialysis offers a holistic model of care and support for people needing renal dialysis who would otherwise be forced to leave their communities to access treatment in Alice Springs.
“We offer primary health care, social support such as patient advocacy, housing assistance, dialysis education and well-being activities, as well as assisting with social issues associated with kidney disease, across more than twenty remote Central Australian communities,” explained Christy van der Heyden, Coordinator Wellbeing Program, Western Desert Dialysis.
“Our enterprise not only benefits the wider communities with our products, services and workshops but also generates employment for Indigenous people by self determining how cultural and intellectual knowledge is used, ” Ms van der Heyden continued.
A true inspiration to other ethical and socially conscious organisations, Western Desert Dialysis originated to help raise funds for a medical need has shown just what can be achieved when a community comes together to provide a service for its own members,” explained Ms Susanna Bevilacqua, Director of Moral Fairground and Founder of the Ethical Enterprise Award.
Karel Boele, Ethical Enterprise Award Judge and Director of EcoDirectory said that, “Western Desert Dialysis’s uniquely creative ‘mobile dialysis’ for remote indigenous communities has been developed on a good business model and strives to deliver a positive social and economic impact.
As the Ethical Enterprise Award winner, Western Desert Dialysis will gain national recognition throughout the business, non-profit and social enterprise sector for their contribution to society, and their unique vision and leadership as well as having access to an array of networking and media opportunities. .
The inaugural Ethical Enterprise Award 2013 was launched in July to recognise and celebrates the achievements of Australia’s most inspirational enterprise, a business or organisation, regardless of size, which has had a positive social and economic impact through its innovative ethical practices.
An initiative of Moral Fairground, the Victorian-based social enterprise and Australian Ethical Investment, the Ethical Enterprise Award raises awareness of the importance of socially and environmentally conscious leadership and ethically orientated business, by celebrating the positive impacts and benefits to society.
“This Award, the first of its kind in Australia, celebrates the importance of informed ethical leadership, conscious business and innovation and demonstrates how organisations that seek a fair, just and sustainable offering can also provide great financial returns too.” concluded Ms Bevilacqua.
Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aborigibal Corporation’s inspirational story can be viewed at www.moralfairground.com.au
