Nurse Lila Pigliafiori aims to close the gap by advocating for patients

Lila Pigliafiori had just started working as a nurse when she realised the man sitting across from her in a mental health facility was deaf – and none of his doctors knew about it.

Lila Pigliafiori had just started working as a nurse when she realised the man sitting across from her in a mental health facility was deaf – and none of his doctors knew about it.

Reflecting on the moment years on, Mrs Pigliafiori said she’d noticed there was something amiss because she had hearing-impaired family members.

“He was an Aboriginal man who was coming in for regular appointments for mental health,” she said.

“He was sitting there across from me and the doctor and he wasn’t paying attention, so I did some sign language and asked him if he could hear and he said no. I thought ‘oh my god’.”

An Aboriginal woman herself, Mrs Pigliafiori said she went through the man’s medical files and couldn’t find any notes on him being deaf.

Lila Pigliafiori now works as a consultant nurse lead with Mount Isa’s AODS (Alcohol and Other Drug Service).

“I went to several audiologists to see if maybe with his deafness voices were getting trapped in his head, and they agreed. I went back to the doctor and I laid it all out for him and said ‘I don’t think this man is schizophrenic”.

After that, the man was fitted with hearing aids and released from the mental health facility, allowed to go home.

“He got the hearing aids and the first thing he said to me was ‘what is your name?” Mrs Pigliafiori said.

“It was incredible to see him back in his home, and later he attended his own tribunal and I coached him for months on how to sit and talk and how to say if he was uncomfortable, and the doctors were amazed by him because they’d never heard him talk like that.”

I said to my husband ‘I’m going to uni’ and I did it.

Helping the man overcome a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia was one of the most powerful moments in her nursing career – and Mrs Pigliafiori is asking other First Nations people to not be afraid of a career in health.

“Don’t be scared,” she advised anyone looking to join the health industry.

“It seems like it’s hard but there is so much help, and you’ll good in scrubs.”

Mrs Pigliafiori graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing Science majoring in rural and remote health from James Cook University in 2019.

Practical learning: Cameron McDonald is in his first year of a Bachelor of Nursing Science at JCU Townsville, where nursing degrees are becoming more popular than ever. Picture: Wesley Monts

She said the study was hard, but she was determined to carry on the ‘health legacy’ her mother had started.

“My mother was an Aboriginal health worker in Cloncurry and she worked quietly and passionately in the 80s. I was young then and I used to hear her always talking about people having the right to equal access,” Mrs Pigliafiori said.

“When I left school I didn’t have the money for university and I worked in Mount Isa for 30 years in the legal system and things, before I said to my husband ‘I’m going to uni’ and I did it.”

The Mount Isa Hospital building. Picture: Blair Jackson

Now 56-years-old, Mrs Pigliafiori said she’d seen the ripple effects of that fateful decision.

“My son is now an ambulance officer and my daughter is pursuing a career as a dentist, they decided to do those things after seeing me become a nurse,” she said.

“You don’t realise the influence you have on the people around you … I’m always throwing stones in the water and creating ripples, because we’re all part of a community so why don’t we help our community to thrive and survive?

“It’s all about trying to close that gap in access. We’re 20 years behind on lifespan and we need to work hard on that.”

From flight attendant to newborn babies

There’s expected to be a shortfall of 70,000 nurses in Australia by 2035 – including a gap of 9000 First Nations nurses.

Rebecca Mabo graduated from Melbourne’s Monash University with a Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery, and started work at the North West Hospital and Health Service in Mount Isa in February.

Rebecca Mabo graduated from Melbourne’s Monash University with a Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery

The 31-year-old is only a few weeks into the job.

“I was living in Melbourne because I used to be a flight attendant for Rex,” Miss Mabo said.

“I decided to go to university because when I was eight years old my mum was pregnant and from then on I was really fascinated by the idea of how babies grew.”

Miss Mabo said studying was a “long slog” and “really challenging” but it’s already paid off.

Rebecca Mabo has taken a special interest in midwifery and antenatal care.

“My highlight has been the first birth I did out here. I wasn’t there for the delivery but I was there immediately after and the mother was a First Nations woman too and she said to me ‘thankyou so much, you’re going to do so well’ and that meant a lot,” she said.

“I definitely feel a sense of pride … I want to tell people don’t be scared, try and reach out to other people who’ve done the same thing and always remember why you wanted to do this.”

First Nations Health executive director Christine Mann said having a strong Indigenous Australian workforce was a powerful driver of change.

First Nations Health executive director Christine Mann said having a strong Indigenous Australian workforce was a powerful driver of change.

“What we’re finding is that the more opportunities we provide for First Nations people to work in healthcare it has a trickle effect back to the community and we find it motivates the next generation to follow a similar career path,” said Ms Mann.

“One of the biggest challenges for us is what’s happening outside the hospital doors when it comes to issues like housing, overcrowding, hygiene and poverty and it’s critical our frontline workers have an understanding of that.”

March 20 was National Close the Gap Day, an anniversary that focuses on health equality for Indigenous Australians.

Originally published as Nurse Lila Pigliafiori aims to close the gap by advocating for patients