Virtuous cycle: laundry trucks fight disease and boost hygiene

Free mobile laundries are helping to drive down rheumatic heart disease in remote Queensland communities, where the third-world illness has long been a silent killer of young Indigenous people.

Lulu Juhel and her granddaughter, Aminah Rosser-Juhel, use a free mobile laundry service on Mornington Island. Picture: Rhianne Williams

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Free mobile laundries are helping to drive down rheumatic heart disease in remote Queensland communities, where the third-world illness has long been a silent killer of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

In Queensland’s northwest, the incidence of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease has almost halved since Indigenous residents of Mornington Island, Doomadgee and Mt Isa began running laundry trucks in a partnership with charity Orange Sky and the state’s North West Hospital and Health Service.

Coroner Nerida Wilson examined the scourge of rheumatic heart disease in the region in 2022 after it claimed the lives of three Aboriginal people from the tiny community of Doomadgee, 2200km northwest of Brisbane, between September 2019 and September 2020. The victims were a girl aged 17, a woman aged 18 and a woman aged 37.

For the past two years, laundry trailers have been operating most days in Doomadgee, Mt Isa and Mornington Island.

In that time, the number of new rheumatic heart disease cases in the region fell from 30 in 2023 to 17 in 2024. The number of new cases of rheumatic fever in the region fell from 27 in 2023 to 18 in 2024.

As residents arrive with their blankets and clothes for the industrial-sized washers and dryers, nurses and Indigenous health workers are often on hand to offer health checks including skin checks that can detect signs of rheumatic heart disease.

At Doomadgee and Mt Isa, the laundries are mobile. On Mornington Island, local grandmother Lulu Juhel is employed by the island’s council to run the solar-powered laundry from a trailer that is stationary. The elderly and young mothers walk to the laundry with prams loaded with dirty laundry but soon Ms Juhel will have a work car to collect them and their washing.

“This is a much-needed service on the island because here on Mornington most people can’t ­afford a washing machine and dryer,” Ms Juhel said.

“A small washing machine here costs at least $1000.

“Even if people have a washing machine it isn’t a big one that can take blankets. The dryers that people have here they don’t take a big blanket either.

“People had been putting their blankets on the line outside and hosing them but it doesn’t get them really clean. It isn’t the same as a hot wash with the detergent like we have here at the laundry.

“I get so much good feedback from people about this laundromat. They love coming here to do a really good hot wash that gets everything so clean.”

Rheumatic heart disease and its precursor, rheumatic fever, are preventable. In Ms Wilson’s coronial report in June 2023, she said it was almost exclusively a disease of poverty and social disadvantage. This is because overcrowding is a major risk factor. It is caused by untreated or undertreated throat infections. Children who get repeated strep throat infections are at the most risk for rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.

There were 7000 Australians living with rheumatic heart disease in December 2022 and 78 per cent were Indigenous, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The free laundries are a good partnership with strong local support, according to Sean Birgan, health services chief executive for the North West Hospital and Health Service. However, only a range of measures would eliminate rheumatic heart disease.

“We’ve got a massive challenge,” Mr Birgan said.

Mr Birgan said other measures under way included increased training for health workers, clinicians and community members. This meant the risks and signs of rheumatic heart disease were being identified “a lot earlier”.

“Over the past two years, our partnership with Orange Sky has focused on improving hygiene, health education, and community outreach to combat this chronic issue,” added Mr Birgan.

“The results have been incredibly promising. By bringing critical services like laundry facilities and health education to these communities, we’re addressing the root causes of rheumatic heart disease and empowering residents to take charge of their health.”

There are hopeful signs the laundries are doing more than helping families with household hygiene. People are starting to have important conversations about health and wellbeing while they wait.

“This partnership is about more than just clean clothes,” said Judith Meiklejohn, Orange Sky senior impact manager in remote communities.

“Our aim is to break down ­stigma and barriers and create healthier communities that are less susceptible to preventable disease.

“Since 2017 we’ve grown from running one remote laundry service to now operating 17 facilities at 15 locations across the country.

“Through local partnerships with community controlled or led organisations, we provide employment opportunities within each remote community to provide the laundry facility for the community to use, which has been key to driving engagement and making a real difference to the lives of families.”