Bali bombing hero bids farewell

THERE was one burns bed at the Royal Darwin Hospital when Alison Mustapha received a phone call telling her Bali had been bombed

Alison Mustapha who was awarded an OAM for the critical role she played in the medical response to the 2002 Bali bombings is retiring after 22 years at Royal Darwin Hospital. Picture: Royal Darwin Hospital

THERE was one burns bed at the Royal Darwin Hospital when Alison Mustapha received a phone call telling her Bali had been bombed.

It was October 12, 2002, and Ms Mustapha was meant to be on annual leave. Instead, she had 12 hours to prepare RDH for 62 burns patients.

“Everyone turned into a burns nurse, it was a very short orientation,” she said.

Cleaners were working 12-hour shifts, gardeners were moving beds and Ms Mustapha sent staff out to 24-hour stores to stock up on rolls of cling rap.

She said it was a fantastic ­effort in a totally unknown situation.

“We had nowhere else to put them – we just had to do it,” she said.

Ms Mustapha has been a nurse for 49 years. She has spent the past 22 years treating patients at the RDH.

She retires this Friday.

She received a Medal of the Order of Australia for her exceptional effort treating the wounded following the Bali bombings.

Ms Mustapha in the thick of the action.

“When I came here it was obvious there was a real need for burns expertise,” Ms Mustapha said.

In January 1997, she approached the director of nursing and asked to use her experience treating burns victims to start a burns unit at RDH.

“Alison has been forerunner in the establishment of and growth of the burns service at Royal Darwin Hospital and her dedication to education and burns awareness has been invaluable,” said Dr David Read, the director of trauma.

The RDH now has a dedicated burns ward, a specialist burns outpatient clinic, three specialist doctors and two burns nurse consultants.

Ms Mustapha said the majority of burns were preventable, but people needed to stop and think.

She provides burn education to rural Northern Territory practices, interstate and overseas in South-East Asia.

“When I first started I would get phone calls from  ­remote areas,” Ms Mustapha said.

Over the phone, doctors would describe burns in detail. Today, there are specialist cameras in remote areas that Ms Mustapha can control.

She has also been a board member both nationally and NT for the Australian and New Zealand Burns Association.

Ms Mustapha said RDH ­allows skilled nurses to introduce and manage nurse initiated services.

Over the years, Ms Mustapha said the nature of burns hasn’t changed but management has evolved “dramatically”. Burns must heal in two weeks or there could potentially be a scar.

She always promises patients: “I will give you the best scar possible.”

“They walk in hating me,” said Ms Mustapha, “they leave loving me.”

Ms Mustapha began her career in regional Victoria.

She moved to Adelaide a few years later where she met her husband, Peter. She inspired her husband to pursue a career in nursing.

Ms Mustapha is looking forward to some time to relax with her husband, her children and grandchildren.

“I just love doing my job,” Ms Mustapha said.