Healthcare Ministry

Our multifaceted healthcare work includes initiatives locally, regionally and overseas. In Perth we engage in regular community outreach, bringing care to people where they are at, serving families in crisis, and working with a local hospital to distribute donated blankets and resources to the homeless. We also seek to encourage and support Christian medical professionals through opportunities to connect and receive input, as well as facilitating short-term medical missions trips. Within our YWAM Perth community, we care for health needs and provide training on issues such as malaria and dehydration to teams leaving for outreach. 

As we serve in health-deprived situations, we promote basic health education using simple, targeted messages. Our aim is to partner with communities to see death and disease decrease. We work with government, local healthcare workers and community members to attain a measurable decrease in illness and death over 24 months. Our healthcare trainers offer seminars in under-resourced communities on topics such as: sanitation, water, maternal health, malaria, HIV-AIDS, respiratory illness, nutrition and communicable disease. We create teaching resources tailored to the specific communities we serve. Translation, contextualisation and visual resources are key to offering simple training that is multipliable. Six months after our initial training, we follow up with further input and evaluate and measure goals. 

In outback Western Australia, we work to promote health and champion youth in Indigenous communities. Remote and isolated communities in the Kimberley region have very little access to health facilities and are confined by rough roads. YWAM Perth teams regularly serve this area. As we’ve invested in these communities, we’ve been invited to provide a health and youth service truck which will reach these "off road" communities. An emphasis of the work will continue to be health education, coming alongside families to see a decrease in chronic disease. We will partner with existing health services serving as a link with health assessments whilst focussing on health education. We aim to enhance holistic health, as Northwestern Australia has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. YWAM teams come alongside youth, helping with emotional needs, giving reasons to live, encouraging youth with their talents and building self worth.

The one prerequisite for joining staff is to do a DTS. You can read more about this 6-month course on our website.
Other short term opportunities do not require completion of a DTS and include Mission Building and Medical Boomerang teams. (more info on website).