Oral health careers in Hunter New England

Oh, my name's Bradley Lombardi. I'm a Bipiai Worimi man, and my family comes from Taree Foster. I was born here in Newcastle and grew up in Windale, that was where I originally started my education, and my journey led me to become a recognised dental assistant.

I find that with my job, I enjoy it because, for me it's not really about the physicality of the work, it’s the emotional connections with people. So, when people actually lose their teeth or are in the process where they have to make hard decisions, it's nice to be there with them on that journey, telling them their options, encouraging to have better oral hygiene.

We have patient programs where we work with children and we work with oral health aids, aged care, we have very successful outcomes with those.

I guess what public health offers, we provide help where people don’t have the safety net and still have quality care. I think when people come to us and realise what we deliver and then experience what we do for them, I think they realize we do have a quality service and that we are here to advise them of the best outcome and do improve upon themselves and their lives and that anything else we do for them is just really structured towards helping them.

I do believe that any young Aboriginal people who want to work, or work in this organisation, whether in oral health or for any health services, it’s a great organisation to work for. As I said again, I call it a portal and that’s what it really is, gives you options, gives a stepping stone. That’s some of the reasons why I like working here and why I continue to. We are very focused on excellence, and working with people and making sure outcomes are the best for them.