Fiona Wake, Nurse
Fiona Wake
Working in remote Australia providing desperately needed ear, nose and throat care has been a life changing experience for nurse Fiona Wake – and for many of her young patients.
Fiona is the Clinical Manager for Remote Area Health Corps (RAHC), which recruits health professionals for short-term placements in remote communities in the Northern Territory. Fiona also works with ear, nose and throat specialists and audiologists in communities in places such as Kintore, which is 530 kilometres west of Alice Springs.
“When you come from working in the general healthcare system, the work, the isolation, and the health issues in these remote areas are challenging – culturally, physically and emotionally,” Fiona, originally from Melbourne, says. “But if you want a challenging and rewarding career – maybe you’re a bit tired of the same old coughs and colds – this will blow you away.
“The thing that struck me was the support here. You have support on the phone, you have the support of your colleagues and you have the support of the community. Every day in this job you learn something different. Your eyes are opened. It is another world.
“Sometimes I just pinch myself that this is my job – seeing Australia like I never would as a traveller, and meeting inspiring people who challenge who I am and what I believe.”
Fiona recalls the case of a young boy whose father said was uncontrollable. “A while back, we met a young boy whose father said: ‘He’s such a bad boy; he doesn’t listen, he is bad at school, he is naughty’. We had a look in his ears and he had big holes in his ear drums. We discovered that he couldn’t hear.
“We treated his ear disease and surgically repaired the holes in his ear drums. When I returned to that community some months later, I immediately recognised the father with a big smile on his face. He said to me, ‘He is a different boy, so happy, listening all the time, doing so well at school.’ And the boy was smiling, and said he was loving school.
“These are the precious moments that inspire you – that make you feel that you have been part of making a difference.”
Fiona is passionate in encouraging others to work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Her advice? “Do it – go with an open mind,” she says.
“You need to understand it is going to be different and you are going to be challenged at a number of levels, especially culturally, but you won’t be sorry, at least I wasn’t. It changed me and, I believe, for the better.”
loading...
Recent Comments