Coober Pedy’s bid to bring vital dialysis to Outback town through Purple House

Coober Pedy wants to bring a new dialysis service to town, reuniting families forced to leave for treatment. Aboriginal elder George Cooley shares his story with The Advertiser.

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Part of a large extended family and with a partner of almost 50 years, George Cooley says it’s been difficult getting used to living in a much quieter home.

The Coober Pedy man and his wife-to-be-Jennifer were among about 25 students when the town’s school opened in 1960, getting together about 10 years later.

“We had eight kids but lost a couple so have six surviving kids,” he says, adding that the pair also raised other children from their extended family.

Over the years, their children have gradually left town for other opportunities, leaving just one son, 26-year-old Billy, at his home in Coober Pedy.

About two years ago, his wife Jennifer, too, was forced to make the move away from the opal mining town after being diagnosed with kidney failure, requiring her to live in a larger town with access to life-preserving dialysis.

George Cooley with a photo of wife Jennifer, who has to live away in Whyalla to receive dialysis treatment. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

“When you’re doing things together for many years, you suddenly find that you’re only buying for one now — you’re not buying for two or 10,” the Aboriginal elder says.

“It’s hard — we’re paying double the cost. She’s paying her cost of rent and electricity out of her pension.

“Luckily, I’m still employed — I just turned 66.”

At first, Jennifer moved to Adelaide for treatment and later to Port Augusta.

But it’s still a 550km drive away, meaning George is only able to see his wife about once a month or once a fortnight.

George, who works as chairman and operations director at the Aboriginal Umoona Community Council, is among a group of locals hoping to help return dialysis patients home to Coober Pedy.

They have the support of Alice Springs-based Purple House, a non-profit organisation that has set up treatment centres in isolated areas across the country.

Plans are in their early stages, but George is hopeful Jennifer, an Antakirinja woman, will eventually be able to return home and be reunited not only with her family but her country.

“She loves going out digging for opal,” George says.

“We talk about the places we used to camp and hunt and she gets a bit upset. There’s nothing like the place of your birth that keeps drawing you back — it’s something you don’t forget.”

Purple House CEO Sarah Brown.

Purple House chief executive Sarah Brown said her organisation had been speaking with Country Health SA, which was keen to see dialysis services brought to Coober Pedy.

“Our outcomes are so fabulous, people are living longer and it’s saving governments a fortune,” Ms Brown said.

For isolated patients who required five-hour dialysis treatment three times a week, it was impossible to travel back and forth between hospitals and their home towns.

“People want to be at home teaching their grandchildren about their country and you can’t do that when you’re on dialysis,” Mr Brown said.

“They have to pack up and leave their families and move to Adelaide to start dialysis, and they’ll either stay there for the rest of their lives or they may go on a waiting list for a spot in Port Augusta or Whyalla to be a bit closer to home.”

Ms Brown has met with community leaders in Coober Pedy several times about the push for a new service, but says more planning is needed to turn the idea to a reality.

It was too early to say how much setting up the service may cost as a location was yet to be chosen.

“We don’t intend to ask the State Government for any money and once it is done, the Medicare money should pay for the running costs,” Ms Brown said.

Purple House’s first remote clinic was set up in Kintore, 550km west of Alice Springs, in 2004.

It was borne from the Western Desert Dialysis Appeal, started by the Pintupi people of Central Australia.

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