Rotary International has awarded a Global Grant providing dialysis chairs and associated equipment for a new Purple House clinic in Pukatja, our Rotary club, Unley, is part of the grant. Pukatja is in the APY lands and is one of the most remote communities in South Australia. Our indigenous citizens have an incidence of kidney disease of around fifteen times the national average. When a person’s kidneys fail, he or she must currently move permanently far away from family, home and country to access dialysis treatment three times a week for the rest of his/her life.

Currently this treatment is only available in Adelaide, Port Augusta and Alice Springs. Senior people, who are the custodians of important cultural knowledge and have lived in remote areas all of their lives are therefore forced to leave their social support networks and leadership roles within their communities to access life sustaining treatment.

The experience of Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation over the past 15 years has been that if services can be offered at or closer to home, people requiring dialysis are healthier, live longer and are able to contribute to family and community life. Away from home they require interpreters, social workers, supported accommodation, income support and are generally unwell and homesick. They lose the will to live! For remote communities many of these people are vital for the transmission of cultural knowledge and to provide leadership in communities. We know that some people choose to die prematurely rather than be forced to leave their homelands and families to start treatment.