Badu so far

So I've been on Badu for 5 days now and I guess I've settled in pretty well. I'm working as a student RN up here in the Health centre with two RNs, Indigenous health workers and the one medical officer who services 3 different communities over two different islands (Badu and Moa).

Jetty, Badu Island

For  the uninitiated, the Torres Strait islands are a group of, well... islands forming the most northerly part of Queensland and Australian territory. Fitting snugly between the tip of Cape York on the Oz mainland and PNG, 15 of the islands are inhabited with around 8000 people between them. With the exception of Thursday Island (the unofficial 'capital' of the region), the islands are lmost entirely populated by their Indigenous inhabitants and the odd few migrants down from PNG.

The island I'm working on: 'Badu Island' is geographically one of the largest in the Torres Strait, but its population hovers between 800 and 900, thus making it a pretty small and isolated community overall. Understandably, the health centre is also small, isolated and consequently, slightly underresourced. Fortunately though, the staff there are some of the most caring, knowledgable and compassionate health professionals I've ever worked with and I'm certainly learning a lot from them. The pictures below show the pretty dull looking building we're working in... luckily the interior is well looked after with a fair bit of decent equipment to help keep the people healthy.

Badu Island Health Centre

Nonetheless, keeping people healthy here seems to be a bit of a challenge. Anyone with half a brain would be aware of the heap of health issues affecting Indigenous people here, across Australia and indeed, the whole world really. Although the alcohol abuse and domestic violence endemic of some rural communities is fortunately less of an issue here, there's a truckload of more sinster afflictions hard at work: diabetes, kidney failure, heart failure, obesisty...  While the sugary foods and drinks we pack the supermarkets with here are tolerated well (in moderation) by many Australians, out  in these communities sugary foods are slowly ripping these people to shreds. Nowhere is this more apparent than the health centre where seemingly every 4 in 5 patients coming in has diabetes, is overweight and is losing kidney function and effectively dieing.

But what can you do? Alcohol prohibition is accepted and enforced in some communities, why not sugar??? Queensland health seem happy to spend millions of coin on funding free medication for diabetes patients out here, but very little money on heath prevention programs i.e. stopping people from drinking coke and eating shit food all the time. More to come soon.

Mortuary in the background, with space for TWO WHOLE CORPSES!!!