Heart Foundation in Perth: Day 1

Well, after my 4 hour plane trip turned into a 6 hour plane trip from Sydney to Perth last night, I have made it to the other side of the country. I will be spending this week at the Heart Foundation of Australia at the Perth branch, and today was my first day. Originally, I made an enquiry to the Australian Ministry for Health about who I could talk to about tobacco control in Australia. They put me in contact with Dr. Freeman as well as Mr. Maurice Swanson who is the Chief Executive here at the Heart Foundation. He has bent over backwards to make sure my stay in Perth is the most beneficial it possibly can be. My only request from him was an hour of his time for an interview, but instead, he set me up with an entire desk and computer to work from for the whole week, as well as having each one of his staff members who deal with tobacco control talk to me about what they do for multiple hours each day. He even greeted me at the front desk with a Flat White and escorted me to my desk! Today, I worked with a woman named Noni Walker, who is the Senior Policy Officer for tobacco control. She spent 4 HOURS of her work day today talking to me about what she does, as well as give me a walking tour of Subiaco, the suburb that the Heart Foundation is located in. She talked to me about the 2012-2018 National Tobacco Strategy, which is under review at the end of this year, in order to start a new strategy at the end of 2018. This plan is a much more detailed version of the "Plan for a Healthier Australia by 2020" which has almost triple the information and policy breakdowns. Instead of the 4 main points to focus on in the "Plan for a Healthier Australia by 2020" from the National Preventative Health Taskforce, this has 9, with many sub-categories for each one. Her job is to focus on what has succeeded and worked for each point, as well as what has not, and to try to come up with new ideas for implementation and tobacco control. Right now, she is working on a draft of (currently) 42 recommendations on where efforts should be focused for the remainder of the NTS to reach its objectives. Overall, a great first day here, and I cant wait to see what they have in store for me the rest of the week.