Today we packed our 4wd and drove the short drive to the airport where we were to catch our plane to fly 15min to visit a community and deliver their medications and any medical attention required. Normally we have our plane - the 1975 'Datsun of the sky'. However our usual piolet was away so we would be flying with another aviation group as we did last week.
We arrived to find that we didnt have a plane booked as our receptionist has recently left for 2 weeks and somewhere along the line our flight was never confirmed... we book a flight for tomorrow. Once we returned to the office we received a phone call from a local hospital informing us that 2 people are due at the hospital tomorrow for which we need to arrange a flight. Organising is left to us 2 nurses as the new health manager is away until thursday. We are unable to arrange the flights and the appointments are rearranged.
During our time looking for a patient a mother shows us the sores on her 2 year old son. The little boy has scabies and sores to half his lower back and head from scratching. They dont look infected and the boy is given treatment and the mother told to come back to the clinic tomorrow. Will she return? The rest of the day is spent following up people for health reasons or arranging appointments.
Entry 1 - An overview
Currently I am working on an island of the Australian coast. The only way to the island is via plane or barge. I'm working for a group established to service the indigenous people in the communities.
The land here is beautiful and rugged, red dirt, green trees and clear blue waters dotted with black rocks. The main town consists of many houses consisting of only 2 rooms with what appears to be about 10 people per house, although some definitely have less. Local children are always playing on the streets, in their yards or at the beach. School seems to be a distant priority.
The vast majority of the population around the main town of 2000 don’t work. They receive government money via basics card and housing. A lot of time is taken up with the ceremonies surrounding a funeral. The health clinic will close at least the day of the funeral and possibly longer. The local people with jobs will often not come to work for 2 weeks after a ceremony.
No alcohol is allowed here although there has been issues with drugs/alcohol in the past. The local people living in the communities further from town have their food delivered by plane and a large portion of their food is gained from hunting. People often leave these communities in the wet season because of the difficult living conditions. This makes it difficult for anyone to complete a normal school year.
More of the town and surrounding communities will be described in future blogs…
The land here is beautiful and rugged, red dirt, green trees and clear blue waters dotted with black rocks. The main town consists of many houses consisting of only 2 rooms with what appears to be about 10 people per house, although some definitely have less. Local children are always playing on the streets, in their yards or at the beach. School seems to be a distant priority.
The vast majority of the population around the main town of 2000 don’t work. They receive government money via basics card and housing. A lot of time is taken up with the ceremonies surrounding a funeral. The health clinic will close at least the day of the funeral and possibly longer. The local people with jobs will often not come to work for 2 weeks after a ceremony.
No alcohol is allowed here although there has been issues with drugs/alcohol in the past. The local people living in the communities further from town have their food delivered by plane and a large portion of their food is gained from hunting. People often leave these communities in the wet season because of the difficult living conditions. This makes it difficult for anyone to complete a normal school year.
More of the town and surrounding communities will be described in future blogs…
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