Employee Information
They call us Remote Area Nurses...
I'm a Registered Nurse and work in
remote areas of Central Australia, Far Northern Queensland and
the Torres Strait (between Australia and Papua New Guinea). I
have worked in many Aboriginal communities across Central
Australia. One community called Willowra is about 350km North
West of Alice Springs in the Tanami Desert. Here I was the only
Nurse for a population of around 400 aboriginal people who live a
semi traditional and nomadic life. The nearest Doctor was in Alice
Springs about (4 hours drive away). The community's doctor flies in with the
Royal Flying Doctor Service once every 2 weeks for a day. I worked with
one Aboriginal Health Worker. Health workers are invaluable in a
Central Australian Clinic not just for the health care they
provide but for their knowledge of Culture, family connections
and cultural protocol. Their translation skills, community liaison and simply knowing who's around and where people have moved to
aid in continuity by allowing me to notify other health centres
of ongoing health care needs. My primary role is health
education/primary health care. Basically the idea is that if you
can educate people in basic healthcare, hygiene, nutrition and
lifestyle then a lot of the so called lifestyle diseases can be
prevented. Unfortunately a lot of time is spent treating diseases
and injuries that people already have and sometimes its like working in an
Accident and Emergency department. Sometimes our work puts us in
the 4WD Vehicles to travel around to small clusters of buildings
called outstations to visit people who may have difficulty
finding the transport to come to you. On these days as I check
the vehicle and load up on food and water and medicines and drive
off, I look around at the harsh but ruggedly beautiful country,
sigh, and wonder what all my colleagues are doing back in
"the big smoke". It IS a harsh and unforgiving land and a
challenging environment professionally. Unfortunately Willowra
was a bit too unforgiving and challenging and after 8 months of
being on call 24 hrs a day 7 days a week I had to admit it was
too much for just one nurse. The constant exposure to violence
and shocking conditions took its toll and I left there in August
2000. (Elaboration
on this here) Since then I
have worked in the Pitjantjatjara lands in Far Northern South
Australia, Arnhem Land in the "Top End" of the Northern Territory and also on a couple of islands in the Torres Straits.
In being able to visit the Torres Strait Islands I have been able to experience two completely
different indigenous cultures
Some pics
that may give you an idea of the life of a RAN.
[Where
am I now?] [top of page]