Palm Island nurse helps dialysis patients live to the fullest
This Palm Island woman provides critical dialysis treatment in her Indigenous community so people don’t have to leave the island to survive kidney disease.
INDIGENOUS nurse Lauwana Blackley is giving back to her community in a big way.
The 41-year-old kidney specialist runs Palm Island’s dialysis clinic, delivering intense blood-filtering treatment to 12 patients, aged 30 to 70, who have severe kidney disease.
Lauwana grew up on the island, 70km north of Townsville in Cleveland Bay, and considers her patients dear friends, which is why she is so passionate about providing responsive, holistic care.
“Unfortunately it is such a big problem in our community,” Lauwana said, explaining Indigenous Australians are four times more likely than the general population to develop type two diabetes.
“One in three of our Indigenous people who have diabetes go on to have kidney disease. I feel privileged I can come home and care for them so they can stay in our community.”
Lauwana started her career as a health worker in 1999, at the age of 20, while balancing life as a young single mother with a baby daughter.
“I just always felt that I could do more,” she said. “We need more people from community sitting in key positions in community to make this a viable place to live.”
Knowing how stressful it was for kidney patients to leave the island for treatment, Lauwana decided to pursue a nursing degree at James Cook University as a mature-age student.
“I went off to university and did the things I needed to do; spent the time away from community to learn my craft and then came back so I can care for my people safely and give them the best I possibly can,” she said.
“I met many wonderful people in my career; skilled clinicians that have mentored and inspired me.”
Lauwana’s patients must attend the dialysis clinic three days a week, every week.
Each session is a gruelling five hours hooked up to a blood-filtration unit.
The clinic can accommodate just four people at a time, so Lauwana is on call six days a week, all hours.
“Dialysis is relentless,” she said. “The thing you are living for is not dialysis, though. It is the thing enabling you to live.
“It is a challenge when we lose them, to get up and keep going. Unfortunately, when we’ve lost somebody there are other people waiting to take that chair.”
Despite the huge commitment managing the clinic for the past four years, she finds time to deliver chronic kidney disease education in the community and even act as a locum vet nurse while Palm Island has been without a vet.
Her mantra is “if you can help, you should help”, and she hopes the approach inspires others to do the same.
“What really makes me happy inside is when patients and family say thank you,” she said.
Lauwana Blackley is a nominee in The Weekly Times Shine Awards, supported by Harvey Norman.
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