Remote clinics provide dialysis to Indigenous Australians
STORY: Three times a week, Rachel Napaltjarri, an Aboriginal woman suffering from kidney failure, comes to this mobile medical unit in a remote town in central Australia to receive lifesaving dialysis treatment to cleanse her blood.
Clinics like this one are a vital lifeline for Indigenous Australians, who have high rates of chronic kidney disease, and often live in remote regions where access to dialysis is otherwise limited.
Sarah Brown, the CEO of The Purple House which runs the clinic, says the project demonstrates how including the community can improve outcomes.
This is why she's calling on Australians to vote "Yes" in the upcoming referendum on recognizing Indigenous Australians and giving them their own "Voice to Parliament".
“Having policy that where Aboriginal people have actually been able to advise and have some input on whether an idea is going to work or not is such a simple no-brainer, but could have such a big impact."
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who make up only 3.8% of Australia's population, are more than twice as likely as non-Indigenous people to have chronic kidney disease.
Brown calls it a disease of “poverty, dispossession and powerlessness,” that became widespread in the transition from a seminomadic lifestyle to reliance on processed foods.
55-year-old Napaltjarri has been on dialysis for six years and will need it for the rest of her life, unless she receives a kidney transplant.
She is one of dozens of Indigenous Australians who receive treatment at the 19 community-led dialysis clinics run by The Purple House.
For these patients, The Purple House offers a home away from home.
"We don't have flashier machines, or we have experienced nurses but they are not more experienced than anywhere else. The only difference is that people are running this place together and they get to control what happens to them and they can help other communities out. It's pretty inspiring really."
Because the clinics are located close to remote Aboriginal communities, Indigenous Australians receiving dialysis are able to preserve cultural ties.
"Dialysis takes five hours every second day. So, three times a week for the rest of your life. So if you're from a really remote community, then you have to pack up your life and move to town to stay alive. So we were starting to return people to their families and their country to take part in community life to look after their sacred sites, to pass on their cultural heritage to the next generation."
Brown says community-led services like these have helped central Australia go from having the worst dialysis survival rates in the country to the best.
They are effective, Brown says, because they empower Aboriginal people to organize and advocate for themselves.
She believes that progress could be repeated on a broader scale if Australians vote to approve the upcoming Australian Indigenous Voice referendum:
"So by enshrining it in the Constitution, it actually gives people a chance to make some sustainable change. And what I would think we will find is a fairer, more equitable Australia, and I think we should all really be proud if we manage to get this through. I can't even think or talk about the alternative to that."
相關影片推薦
9:00
韓國工廠火災:中國朝鮮族女工遇難 家屬淚訴最後訊息BBC NEWS 中文63,767 次觀看・2 週前2:01
中國快時尚危機 年丟2600萬噸衣服 合成纖維占7成無法回收Yahoo奇摩(國際通)129,703 次觀看・2 週前1:58
鼓山美術館豪宅區淹大水 整片"土黃泥流"損失慘民視影音153,945 次觀看・1 天前1:58
新北送高雄1146元外送單是真的! 外送員現身東森新聞影音418,844 次觀看・3 天前1:47
台南新營區"後鎮排水"潰堤 鹽水區淹成汪洋民視影音212,872 次觀看・1 天前11:02
地震來了怎麼辦?豆腐別再涼拌了,教你新吃法,做法簡單味道足,加上杏鮑菇,香!芭樂媽的家 Qistin Wong TV73,231 次觀看・5 天前1:43
擋雨神器! "防水閘門"隔出兩個世界 防淹水惡夢民視影音26,408 次觀看・1 天前2:27
凱米來襲!高雄多區淹水一級警戒 高美館豪宅區淹水「影片曝光」民視影音152,930 次觀看・2 天前10:59
如何把剩飯變好吃?加上小黃瓜,不油炸不燉煮,出鍋孩子搶著吃,香!芭樂媽的家 Qistin Wong TV21,908 次觀看・5 天前2:43
只差3秒! 蘇花工程人員逃命畫面曝光 倒車逃險遭埋華視影音100,015 次觀看・1 天前
熱門必看
13:07
葉全真不愛邀人作客竟是因為這點?唐老師:「好典型的處女座」!Ep.225-2唐綺陽談星室377,432 次觀看・3 週前24:06
霸氣挑戰南部小吃價格 吃到賺到!板橋10樣親民價美食Yahoo創作摩人136,349 次觀看・1 個月前23:55
吃爆三峽老街美食|九間就被擊垮了|最道地金牛角竟是這家?|阿環格格出遊去 Ft.阿環小姐 [送你營養吃]黃君聖Sunny營養師155,501 次觀看・1 個月前21:58
瀕臨破產到全球市值最強!輝達(Nvidia)是怎麼崛起的?買他們股票的都賺翻了?《 時代的巨人》EP 021|志祺七七志祺七七 X 圖文不符203,078 次觀看・1 個月前6:30
台中南屯|百年秘方汕頭火鍋Lee Yi李易42,948 次觀看・1 個月前