a different kind of desperate

[Bernadette]

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out at Pigeon Hole, some young lads ranging in age from 10 to 14 yrs took this almost brand new 4WD for a spin one evening. i got a knock on the door form the 'Night Patrol' (community run and operated quasi law control) mob with two of the boys post accident. they were essentially unharmed having come off well considering the possibilities for a more serious crash. they reckon they were only doing 60 km/hr. not likely…80km/hr would be my estimate…anyhow there was only one wearing a seat belt. the two youngsters in the back bounced forward and hit the dash but we're similarly essentially unharmed. the other two boys fronted up at the clinic a couple of hours later having been too frightened to come forward earlier.
this vehicle was purchased brand new by a local teacher's aid with cash. i think the money was probably obtained from 'royalties'. i asked what the owner had in mind to do with the vehicle. she was going to strip it of all saleable items such as wheels etc and maybe torch it when the weather turns. she was planning on heading up to Darwin to buy another vehicle.

despite all the seriousness of the situation, potential for human harm and damage to property in these type of situations: I still see the lighter and funny side to what happened. the boys were scared witless having been caught and having to front up at the clinic. i think their lives of adventure (and misadventure) are to be savoured despite all the negativity that surrounds aboriginal community life.

[Bernadette]

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the new fire safety doors of the clinic don't like the western heat of the afternoon sun and are starting to buckle. these doors may be good for fire purposes, but cannot be locked from the inside…not much good if i need to lock out unwanted types when working in the clinic. crowd control is an important aspect of remote nursing. a casualty may present for treatment accompanied by two or 30 other people who make working through an emergency or similar situation incredibly difficult.

[Bernadette]

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just in case you cant figure out which way to head.

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use of 1080 poison is widespread across Australia. it killed my dog Pookie while at Ringer Soak. I hate the stuff. its indiscriminate and carries on up through the food chain.

[Bernadette]

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Marie and her husband Dave…two of the nicest and friendliest people I have ever met. Marie is another RAN doing short term contract work. She was a real bright shining star and we had a super time together playing while we work!!!!

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Using their vehicle we explored the area with some other staff. here we are heading off to go swimming in the creek.

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the water is crystal clear until you stir up the sediment ("donkey snot") at the bottom…otherwise its very refreshing and worth the effort walking into the swimming hole.

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doing a baby check. this little fella was a shining example of good health despite having diarrhoea.
theres an outbreak of Shighella across parts of NT and WA at present.

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i had this little one 'building blocks' to assess childhood development. a lot of children will come to the clinic and literally run wild…opening drawers, pulling things apart and generally causing havoc. Their attention span is short and they want instant gratification. its rare to have a child sit still and quiet for more than one minute. but given a task to do, most will comply happily. they like to colour in and having coloured pencils and papers is a worthwhile distraction for all.

[Spin_Drift]

Hi Bernadette . Thank you for this fantastic thread. Very enjoyable to look at the pictures and read your stories. You do so much good and you're a "tough cookie". Very admirable.

I hope youre all all healed up and well now.

Have a fantastic new year.

[Bernadette]

thank you spin. yes I'm just about back to normal. i occasionally get some muscle tightness which is remedied by taking a few strides before 'loosening' up. i do yoga now and that helps tremendously.
i find taking the photos helps me see into life out here. its not all beer and skittles and nor is it all doom gloom and despair. I'm ever the optimist.
I've been intentionally using my iPhone to take photos rather than my digital SLR. its challenging to make the most of an image with the phone.

[Bernadette]

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the sunset on the night i found Ruby and his namesake….photo taken from the kitchen window of my accommodation.

[PeterSibley]

Hi Bern, wishing you a Happy Healthy and Prosperous 2018.

Your photos remind me of my time on the Cape, many years ago.

[Bernadette]

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the supply truck comes in each tuesday with online shopping orders, mail and other freight. once unloaded, the pick up is an organised self help system based partly on honesty and what you are expecting. packing and freight dockets help with identifying who owns what.

[Bernadette]

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care flight has the contract for medical evacuations in this part of the country. I'm not overly impressed with their service in that it usually takes numerous hours before we get a plane to the community. they work on just two shifts and depending on aircraft availability, we often have to wait for the next shift to start, which means holding the patient at the clinic. RFDS by comparison appear to be better equipped and have much quicker response times.

[Bernadette]

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during the dry the horses often come into the yard to drink from the sprinkler or eat the fresh green grass. in this particular instance there were a number of horses really enjoying the abundance of water from the sprinkler so i let them at it. unfortunately in their exuberance they damaged the sprinkler head. anyhow they all had a good drink and 'swim' followed by a roll in the dirt. horse people may note the front leg deformity of the horse to the right. this horse has been injured somehow and walks with incredible difficulty. both legs are injured and it looks a though the horse is in pain with each step. the local vet visited about 3 months ago and discussed euthanasia. this is a difficult procedure as the horses are extremely wary of people as the horses are attacked, beaten and killed by youths, so its difficult to get close. the vet isn't permitted to use a dart gun within the community proper and the police are reluctant to use a firearm. unfortunately this horse is still painfully limping about. it does however have the support and protection of its herd mates and despite its ailment, appears well enough.

[Bernadette]

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out at Pigeon Hole the kids will 'swim' in any container that holds water. now that the rains have started, they tend to go to the river for a swim despite the presence of fresh water crocodiles. in many respects, the kids' lives are 50-50 'good' versus 'tough' but they are generally always happy.

[PeterSibley]

No salties is a blessing Bern, but I've seen kids swimming with 2 or 3 big salties 15 m away on the bank.
Shudder. One kid standing lookout.

[Tom Christie]

Great thread.
Thanks for the ride!

[nedL]

Happy new year and best wishes to you Bernadette.

[WX]

Bernadette a friend of mine does contract work out on some of the remote communities. Speaks several languages and has some good stories. He was telling me that a lot of the basics like milk are sold at inflated prices that don't reflect the true cost of transport. Have you come across that?

[brucemoffatt]

All the best for 2018 Bern. Great thread, thanks for sharing this part of your life.

[skuthorp]

Putting these problems right I think is a vain hope at present, like deconstructing an omelette.
But Bernie likely has a better slant on it than all of the rest of us put together.

[Phil Y]

My kids primary school used to do an exchange with kids from a school in the Pitjanjara lands in SAs far north. A thing that struck me when we spent some time there was the absurdity of the adaptation of the school curriculum. Someone had gone to the great trouble of creating beautiful story books, lovely illustrations, all in local language. But absolutely the same stories as our kids get in school down in town. So there we were in a classroom, with the white Aussie teacher reading to the class a nicely illustrated story about the hopeless inadequacy of a straw house, the frailty of a timber house, and the real need for a good solid brick house. It just seemed so completely bizarre and culturally innapropriate.

[Robbie 2]

Thanks Bernadette.
These are the type of threads that give me hope for the future.

[Bernadette]

Bernadette a friend of mine does contract work out on some of the remote communities. Speaks several languages and has some good stories. He was telling me that a lot of the basics like milk are sold at inflated prices that don't reflect the true cost of transport. Have you come across that?

john, all items are expensive. I've paid around $7 for a punnet of strawberries and a similar price for an iceberg lettuce. i generally try to buy up bulk on dry goods before i head out if I've got a vehicle. this is not usually the case. i spent around $800 on food in Katherine for this contract but a reasonable amount was Christmas related items. i can do an online order which generally costs around $30 in freight depending on weight. my employer pays a fortnightly "freight allowance" which isn't much but does tend to defray the costs of transport. i will buy the fresh fruit and vegetables at any cost simply because fresh is soooooo good and i get tired of dry food or processed food. the choice of vegetables is limited but i do manage surprisingly well. a lot of vegetables and fruit have to be eaten almost straight away as they are sometimes close to their throw away state (rotten). you get pretty adept at cutting out rotten sections of food and i tend to lower my standards for what i expect in fruit and vegetables out here. no scurvy just yet!

[Bernadette]

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when we had to do community wide vaccinations for meningococcal w strain, i got the kids into the clinic en masse. its bedlam and one has to keep your wits about you as there are stringent controls on documentation coupled with the equally vital clinical aspects. anyhow, the kids came in and and i did some videos and took some photographs as i was using the opportunity to record my work for assessment purposes for a study programme i was undertaking (incidentally, I passed).
two of my favourite lads are in this photo: gordon at the top, is a great young lad being cared full time by his grandfather. he's got a wonderful personality. and little eric at the bottom is special. he's a bright boy, well mannered and very friendly but in a beautifully genuine way. i hope their future will be as bright as they are but one can never tell.

[Bernadette]

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got a call late one night to attend a MVA about 30 km distant from Kalkarindji. no phone coverage that far out.
long story short….the driver was drunk and rolled the vehicle. he and his passenger self extracted and lay down to wait for help after flagging down another motorist.
my colleague transported the passenger into the clinic whilst i stayed on the side of the road with the injured driver. it was dark and I ran out of oxygen for my patient. just two of the problems faced when attending roadside trauma. fortunately i had police in attendance which made the wait "safer" for me.
you cant see much at night as evidenced by this iPhone photo.

[Bernadette]

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a small portion of the alcohol we found in the vehicle. the bottles' contents were emptied in to the dust. it was alleged he was carrying alcohol back into a nearby 'dry' community. i cant remember the exact figures, but his blood alcohol level was systemically near fatal limits.

[Bernadette]

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pretty much how i found the driver…already laying down in this position.
he's in pain, intoxicated and under usual circumstances lives with a respiratory condition.
some supplemental oxygen (before the cylinder emptied) and a few doses of morphine while i waited roadside.

[Bernadette]

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day time reveals the extent of damage to the vehicle.
both occupants survived.

[Bernadette]

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within a few days most of the 'good stuff' had been stripped off the vehicle.
a couple of weeks later i saw that the ute had been flipped over so other parts could be taken off.
i expect the wreck will stay on the roadside for years to come.

[skuthorp]

Attachments do not seem to work Bernie.

Hell of a job you've gotten there……… stay safe.

[WX]

[img]Attachment 8141[/img]
within a few days most of the 'good stuff' had been stripped off the vehicle.
a couple of weeks later i saw that the ute had been flipped over so other parts could be taken off.
i expect the wreck will stay on the roadside for years to come.

test

[WX]

Well that didn't work.

[Bernadette]

Attachments do not seem to work Bernie.

Hell of a job you've gotten there……… stay safe.

i edited the posts.
not sure why the photos sometimes load as Attachment.
hopefully all sorted now anyway.

[Phil Y]

Good from here

[PeterSibley]

All visible now Bernadette. Thanks.