BMS leader shares personal journey and company’s commitment to national reconciliation movement

Human Resources: Fostering a future of healing and reconciliation requires all Australians to truthfully and respectfully acknowledge the past. 

The truth is that the past is very much with us today, in the continuing devastation of the lives of Indigenous Australians. It can only be addressed with the whole community listening with an open heart and mind to the stories of what has happened in the past and, having listened and understood, commit to reconciliation.

In an interview with Health Industry Hub, Melinda Munns, Medical Director and RAP LT Sponsor at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) shares what ignited her personal journey of reconciliation and BMS’ commitment to the national reconciliation movement with the company’s launch of its first Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) last week.

Upon reflecting on her own reconciliation journey, Melinda commented “For me personally to start this journey, it was realising the disparities that existed within our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population compared to the rest of the population in Australia. Statistics include eight to nine years difference in life expectancy, forty percent (40%) increase in cancer deaths and unemployment three times higher than the rest of the population.

“I would hear the statistics and feel almost overwhelmed with ‘what can I do?’ What sparked my interest in this was the knowledge of understanding that there is actually a framework that can be used, a reconciliation action framework that can make a difference.”