TRANSCRIPT
This year, more than one thousand delegates have gathered in Perth for the National Rural Health Conference.
With a spotlight on the unique challenges faced by Indigenous communities in some of Australia's most remote locations, this year's gathering has placed particular emphasis on the efforts required to close the gap in health equity for First Nations people.
With keynote speakers from organisations providing crucial services in their communities, delegates have heard about the work being done to provide more accessible healthcare in rural communities.
Some of the most remote communities in Australia are located in Western Australia, with access to life-saving technology and services often thousands of kilometres away.
"Perth is incredibly concentrated in the capital of Perth. We are two, three thousand kilometres away, and all the tertiary services are in Perth, so unlike other states, there's not much spread north of any of the tertiary sector health services."
That's Dr Emma Griffiths, Senior Medical Officer at Kimberley Renal Services.
The organisation provides education, patient support, as well as haemodialysis services in Broome, Fitzroy Crossing, Kununurra and Derby and the only one of its kind in Australia when it comes to being an Aboriginal-led renal service.
Felicity Stewart is the East Kimberley Chronic Disease coordinator.
"We're a nonprofit Aboriginal controlled organisation. We run four renal health centres across the Kimberley, Broome, Derby, Fitzroy, and Kununurra, so that model is one haemodialysis for patients and then also people that stages one to five, offering management of their kidney disease, to other AMS and health professionals, and right through to end stage kidney disease. We provide education, transplantation and also, vascular access support for patients. "
Kidney disease rates in the Kimberley are among the highest in Australia, with Chronic Kidney Disease as well as End-Stage Kidney Disease far exceeding the national average within the Aboriginal population.
Dr Griffiths says one in four Indigenous Australians experience kidney disease, compared to one in ten for the rest of the population.
"I believe forty per cent, according to ABS, forty percent of the population of the Kimberley is Indigenous, and like many places in Australia, it still bears the consequences of colonisation and the extreme rurality, and distance that community sometimes are placed from access to services. "
It's a dire situation described as, the kind of problem where everyone in the Kimberley knows someone who is impacted by kidney disease.
And in terms of closing that gap, Dr Griffiths says things aren't really improving.
"Our own data don't show us that at the moment, in some ways, you wonder whether, should we be at least happy that that rate isn't increasing but what I can tell you is that all of our data suggests that we need to do more and we need to do it now because we are not decreasing the number of people who have chronic kidney disease."
Felicity Stewart says an important aspect of providing healthcare services to these communities is ensuring Aboriginal people are involved in delivering the services.
"So better cultural practices within kidney healthcare are first and foremost, having Aboriginal staff. Having information repeated to patients in a way that they understand which is really important, and also checking in for patients and remote renal patients, it's a slow progression in, it's a long journey. And in terms of transplantation, there's a lot of information and navigating the health systems. So, walking hand in hand with our patients is what's needed to support them for better outcome. "
As well as improving access to health services and culturally appropriate communication, the organisation also calls for improvements in data collection and monitoring of pre and post transplant health outcomes, increasing the Indigenous health workforce and improving cultural awareness about organ donations in Indigenous communities.
