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Here are
some stories from our community visits
The beginning - January 2006
Jabiru
- January 2006
Belyuen
- 15 March 2006
Acacia
Hills - 16 March 2006
Minjilang
Community on Crocker Island - 29 March 2006
Nguiu
- 3-6 April 2006
Pirlangimpi
and Milikapiti - 10-11 April 2006
Nauiyu
Nambiyu Daly River - 15-16 May 2006
Darwin
Men from Kormilda College - 19 May 2006
Groote
Eylandt, Angurugu and Alyangula - 8-9 June 2006
Maningrida
- 19-23 June and 10-13 July 2006
Oenpelli
- 8-11 August 2006
The
beginning - January 2006
Everyone
needs to start somewhere and so it was with the
Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study in 2006. We've got
over 600 participants to track down and so it
was always going to feel like a small step on
a very long journey - but the first steps are
important.
We saw our
first participants for Wave 3 on January 16. The
study participants were from Darwin and we picked
them up early so they didn't have to fast for
long. In Darwin we work at the Royal Darwin Hospital
and we all had to get used to the hospital corridors
and small bays where our study stations were set
up.
Other challenges
ranged from remembering all the equipment, how
to perform different aspects of the study, correctly
record and save the data and still remember to
chat with our cooperative and great Clan Cohort.
They were
very understanding and gave us important feedback
We were also
one "man" short with Kobi called away
to undertake her responsibilities as a citizen
on jury duty.
We snapped
photos and dropped the participants home. At last,
after months of preparation and expectation, we
had begun and filled the first early section of
"The Study Motivator" on the office
wall.
2 Clan Cohort
members seen, over 598 to go!
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Jabiru
Field Trip - January 2006
Jabiru was
our trial run for tracking and seeing participants
outside of Darwin. We based ourselves at the wonderfully
helpful and accommodating clinic and worked from
there.
Megan went
out on the Monday past the flooded wetlands of
Kakadu and teamed up with a local woman, Joclyn,
who assisted the study team over the 2 days in
Jabiru. Together they headed out about town and
to the outstations tracing the local Clan Cohort.
Sometimes their progress was halted by flooded
tracks. Plenty of kilometers were clocked-up and
at the end of the day they knew there were 11
Clan Cohort folks in and around Jabiru.
Setting out
before sunrise from Darwin on the Tuesday were
the rest of the ABC study troop - Gurmeet, Joe,
Kobi, Wendy and Lisa. They were enthusiastic on
arrival at the clinic with buoyant spirits, despite
the early start.
5 of the
Clan Cohort were seen by the team that day and
we all agreed that the early signs were that it
was a cooperative and brilliant start to the study.
Of course there were things for us to learn -
we need to become slicker and speedier, poor Lisa
can't see much of a participant's teeth if they
are coated with a tasty muffin and the final lesson
- serum, plasma and urine are indistinguishable
if unlabelled!
The study
was also able to help transport an elderly grandmother
from a remote outstation into the town clinic
while ferrying our Clan Cohort. It was lovely
to be able to help out the community that's helping
us in our research.
Thanks Jabiru
- we'll be back.
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Belyuen
- 15 March 2006
March was
upon us and we had a trip planned to Belyuen,
our first attempt to travel to Belyuen had to
be cancelled for cultural reasons, so we rebooked
for the following week. Joe had driven over the
day before to scout out our participants so when
we arrived the following day they were all accounted
for. Dr Gurmeet had sold us all on the idea of
how nice it would be to catch a nice calm morning
ferry trip to Mandorah, two things were not going
our way that morning, Kobi was picking up Wendy
and Lisa that morning (and running a little late)
which was not helped by the torrential rain which
hovered over the car all the way in to town, we
arrived at the jetty with Gurmeet not far behind
who had also been plagued by the same cloud, our
nice ride on the harbour turned into a wet cold
and bumpy ride for all. Considering we have two
team members who get travel sick everyone coped
quite well.
After we
had boarded the ferry and were on our way the
man came by collecting money for our tickets,
Kobi was slightly embarrassed when she pulled
out her card to pay by eftpos and was told cash
only. Everyone looked at each other and all stated
the same thing "I didn't bring any cash with
me".
Thankfully
he did not make us jump ship and swim back to
shore and said we could pay on our return.
We arrived
a bit wet (some people a bit green around the
edges) but still in good spirits and drove the
15 mins to the clinic in Belyuen. The previous
day Joe with the help of Kevin who works at the
clinic were able to track down 5 of the 6 participants.
The clinic had allowed us to use 2 rooms as well
as the back verandah to work from which was a
great help and allowed us to see the participants
with relative ease. We have to give a big THANK
YOU to the clinic for all there help. We had seen
everyone by lunchtime but we did not have time
to pack up and catch the ferry back, so Lisa jumped
in the clinic car and got a lift in time to catch
the ferry back while the rest of us decided to
keep Joe company on the drive back. On our travel
back Kobi was in desperate need of liquid refreshment
so we called by the local shop, purchased our
supplies and were on our way again. It was not
until we had reached Cullen Bay that she realized
her card was still in the shop in Belyuen (OH
NO), it was not a problem however as somebody
else from Menzies was able to bring it back the
next day.
Thanks to
Belyuen for a great day and a very successful
trip.
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Acacia
Hills - 16 March 2006
We knew from
Wave 2 of the study that there were 3 people out
at Acacia Hills. With the help of the yellow pages
we were able to contact the parents and in a few
hours we had all 3 participants. traced a place
to work from, and a date to see them. We wanted
to leave Menzies by around 7am but we were running
a little late due to a missing team member whom
showed up at the last minute with a VERY bad tooth
ache. We had a mud map to follow to get us there
after liasing with one of the parents, Kobi was
a little nervous about getting the team lost but
we found the place without any hiccups.
When we arrived
the fantastic parents were cleaning the place
we were going to be working from know as "The
Shed" and before we had time to set up we
had all 3 participants there and waiting.
Dr Sue Sayers
and Dr Gurmeet Singh could remember using the
shed in Wave 2 and it was fantastic to see the
support that the community gave each other. We
were on our way again by lunch and had time to
stop at a roadhouse to grab something to eat.
The whole
day was a success with the only hiccup being a
minor fender bender on the way home with one of
the cars.
Thank you
to Acacia Hills for all your support in helping
us in your community.
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Minjilang
Community on Crocker Island - 29 March 2006
Again, after
a failed first attempt due to weather we made
it to Crocker Island on the 29th of March. We
were at Menzies just after 6am so we could be
on the plane at 7am. After a beautiful flight
through (more) rain clouds we arrived at Crocker
Island. We were picked up from the airstrip by
the clinical nurse manager, seven of us (including
the pilot) and over 150 kg of equipment was packed
into the troop carrier and driven to the clinic.
The wildlife
was spectacular and the brumbies that were all
over the place were unbelievable, we were shown
the sites of the community, like the new shop,
the school that's being built, and the brand new
not yet open clinic which everyone is looking
forward to.
The clinic
staff were fantastic they allowed us to work from
the clinic which is pretty small and we took up
an entire verandah, as well as the back room.
With the help of the clinic we employed a lady
called Margaret to work for us, she helped us
track our participants and did a fantastic job.
With the looks of a slow start several team members
were able to have a much needed coffee break on
the verandah while Kobi went for a walk around
the community with Margaret. By the end of the
day we were able to see 6 of our 7 participants.
On our return
flight we were able to help the clinic by bringing
a mother and son in need of treatment back to
Darwin with us. So there were now 9 of us and
a few more pieces of luggage for the return drive
to the airstrip. Somehow we all squeezed into
the troop carrier again and were off. We arrived
back in Darwin around 5 pm all pretty tired after
a long day but it was great to see everyone was
willing to pitch in a hand to help unpack things
at home.
A big thank
you goes to Crocker Island for your support and
helping make our Crocker Island trip successful.
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Nguiu
3rd-6th April
Our trip
to Nguiu, Bathurst Island, began with a lengthy
wait under Tiwi Travel's awning. Other travellers
were shooting cutting looks in our direction -
they thought that it was our 180kg of equipment
that was holding up the plane. The pilot soon
informed the gathered group that it was stormy
weather rather than our supplies causing the delay.
We pondered
under that awning whether there was any point
trying to see participants on this Monday. We
reasoned that the day was getting on and once
we arrived and set up it would be later still.
On arrival
we teamed up with John and Robbie. These men were
our capable all-round helpers. With their assistance
and the kind generosity of Alice Williams, who
let us use the recreation hall, we set up and
ended up having a brilliant first day. We saw
over 8 willing clan cohort members. You never
can tell how things will pan out. That evening
the hall transformed into a Blue Light Disco with
many locals carving up the dance floor.
2006 has
had a late Wet and this week the skies on Bathurst
Island were bucketing. But it did not deter our
participants - one young woman and her mother
walked in through a storm, arriving to participate
sopping wet! Such heavy rain meant we couldn't
see some Clan cohort guys who live on Ranku outstation.
The first
two days were solid hard work so by day 3 in quiet
times Lisa was found snoozing in the dental chair
trying to help her body fight a "lurgy"
that was taking hold.
Joe, Wendy
and Megan checked out the local Club one night.
On our return to the accommodation we all had
Dr Gurmeet check our ears. We were worried that
the deafening "last-drinks" siren might
have caused some permanent damage!
We shared
our study goodies (wrist bands, water bottles
and pens) with our participants and some local
kids we met. One kid missed out when the more
interesting items had been claimed by their peers
leaving them to have a pamphlet about the effects
of smoking on your teeth.
Our first
overnight field trip was capped off with a shopping
trip for Dorothy at the local art shops and a
brief tour of the beautiful island. It was a hugely
successful 4 days with 20 participants seen.
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Pirlangimpi
and Milikapiti - 10-11 April 2006
Two day trips,
each by charter plane, were made to the communities
of Pirlangimpi and Milikapiti on Melville Island.
Monday was
a slow start and the destination was Pirlangimpi.
It was Megan's birthday so she was lavished with
chocolates and gifts before take-off - well, before
the first attempted take off. We were all bundled
in our plane but the right engine was refusing
to turn over. The pilot patiently persisted with
the ignition but after numerous attempts Lisa
tapped him on the shoulder indicating the smoke
rising from around the propeller. The starter
engine had blown and this plane wasn't going anywhere.
Direct Air began to source us not only a new plane
but a new pilot as well.
Meanwhile,
as we waited in Darwin, Therese had done a superb
job in Pirlangimpi rounding up our study participants.
She had them all fasting and waiting in the school
grounds for our arrival - which was going to be
very late.
The team
arrived with a burst and flooded into the spacious
class room to begin our day's work. Some participants
had understandably left to have some breakfast
but those who remained were hungry but in good
spirits. We worked furiously to make up time and
get through the assessments allowing us to feed
the famished participants.
The whole
day felt like a whirlwind adventure when we were
once again on the plane and over the woodlands
of Melville Island back into Darwin.
On Tueday
when we arrived at the airport again the guys
at Direct Air had the plane packed and ready to
go - they'd even remembered the ice packs for
the esky from their freezer. In contrast to the
previous day we were off the ground before 7am
to Milikapiti.
Milikapiti
Women's centre hosted the study team in their
community. We were ably supported by Jocelyn and
Sue. Sue was ill but made a valiant effort to
be around on the day for us. We set up making
the best of the active and well used space in
the Women's Centre. Lisa nestled the dental station
in amongst racks of brightly coloured clothes
and Gurmeet worked in a hot airless corner without
a functioning fan.
We saw 10
participants that day, the most we've ever seen
in one day. Women came predominately in the morning
and blokes in the afternoon. We chatted with our
Clan Cohort and heard about the successes of their
hunting and fishing adventures from the weekend.
Fish were on the bite, including barra, and quite
a few turtles had been caught.
From the
brilliant early beginning we had a day filled
with activity. By the day's end there was a smooth
production line of tube labelling and our esky
of food for the Clan Cohort was empty.
We left the
picturesque community nestled by Snake Bay smiling.
Our hard working assistants from the Women's Centre
dropped us at the airport before they headed to
the club where they work in the evenings. And
we think we had long day!
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Nauiyu
Nambiyu - Daly River - 15 and 16 May 2006
Our two day
trip to Nauiyu began leisurely as we set out on
Sunday afternoon with a comfort stop at the Adelaide
River Pub for dinner. On arrival in Nauiyu we
followed Marie's impeccable directions to the
Leadership Centre house which was to be our deluxe
accommodation for the two nights.
You'd think
the team had never stayed in any accommodation
other than a tent. We were all swanning about
the place salivating at the cleanliness, the new
toaster, the TV and the river just out the back
door. It was like we'd been put up in a 5 star
resort!
The state
of the art new Clinic in Daly River hosted the
study team. CNM, Janette Fletcher, and her team
were all hands on deck to help ensure the study
visit was a success, even the receptionist and
local artist Nola, was out trying to track down
and bring in the Nauiyu Clan Cohort members. Our
other able assistants included Lena, Gracie and
ex-Menzie's man, David. So enthusiastic and helpful
were the clinic staff that they even took some
blood for us and arranged to get a urine sample
that wasn't possible while we were there. Go you
good things!
There were
early starts and some of our Cohort came to the
clinic a little bleary eyed, straight from bed,
to be part of the study. You champions - we all
appreciate the sacrifices of sleep you made to
be part of the study.
One afternoon
Lisa was found staring at the autoclave in the
dental room absolutely blown away that it was
named "Lisa" as well. On the other afternoon
we had an enthusiastic local who is the same age
as the Clan Cohort mob but not part of the study,
Makita, stay with the study team helping and watching
the goings on.
We couldn't
finish up a trip to the Daly without a little
fishing talk. Megan wanted the throw her trap
in for bait on the first night, after dark, but
the looks of horror from croc-fearful team mates
made her decide better of it. In the end she caught
plenty of king sized cherubim over the two days
but they didn't reel in the mighty barra, instead
only offering a dreaded catfish. The cherubim
that were not used as bait were cooked up only
to be left in the clinic fridge. The team unsympathetically
rolled laughing wondering if yet another checklist
was required:
Point
one: Has Megan packed her fishing catches?
Megan vows
that the knockers will soon be silenced.
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Darwin
- Men from Kormilda College - 19 May 2006
A marvellous
group of 5 young men one Friday, mostly from Kormilda
College, participated in a study day held at Royal
Darwin Hospital.
The Kormilda
boarders came along with Christopher from Adelaide
River who is a cousin brother to some of the Kormilda
mob. He, by chance, was staying in town that week.
Dr Sue, the
study's founder, was helping us out as Kobi was
ill. She remembered the men clearly from when
they were seen as boys - most of them were from
Middle Point School - in their younger years.
Sue kept reiterating what fabulous, healthy young
men they were and how it matched the lovely nature
they had as young boys.
Sue was even
able to call Aletta Dawes. Aletta was the first
employee of the study and spoke to the Clan Cohort
members' mothers about the study at the time our
participants were born. This introduction to health
research sparked her interest and she now works
at Royal Darwin Hospital as a doctor.
It was a
buzz for Sue and Aletta, who were basically there
at the start of these guy's lives, to now meet
them as strapping young adults.
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Groote
Eyalndt, Angurugu and Alyangula - 8/9 June 2006
We flew into
Groote Eylandt on Wednesday afternoon and met
up with our helper on the island Frankie to discuss
plans and show us around. Thursday morning approached
and while some of us walked the short distance
to the clinic others drove the equipment down.
The clinic was a great help, the staff were fantastic,
we had the entire back veranda at our disposal
to use. We set up the equipment and the search
was on for our participants with Frankie being
our guide and scout.
The cohort
members we wanted to see came from all over the
Island most being from Angurugu itself. On the
first day we only saw participants living in Angurugu
while on the second day we had to broaden our
search. To boost our numbers Joe and Frankie went
for a drive to Umbakumba where we knew we had
a few people and arrived back with 2 participants.
The last person we picked up was found to be working
at a bank in Alyangula and was able to get the
afternoon off work to come and be apart of the
study. We saw 8 participants in total over the
2 days.
Our Dentist Lisa went on a marathon drive around
Angurugu and just before we were about to send
out a search party for her thinking she got lost
she returned with a great lead for a another participant
living in Darwin.
Everone had a great time and people were able
to comment on how much the community has grown
since they last visited. We got some great leads
for other participants back in Darwin from the
staff at the clinic and the only down point on
the trip was our plane trip home being changed
so that we got home 3 hours later than expected.
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Maningrida
- 19-23 June and 10-13 July
Maningrida
is one of the largest communities in the Top End
and not surprisingly there are a large number,
about 70, Clan Cohort members living there and
on the surrounding Outstations. The team went
to Maningrida in two separate weeks. In between
these weeks Joe was on BRACS through TEABBA radio
speaking about the study.
We set up
at the spacious Maningrida Progress Association
in one of their Common Rooms, covering the doors
with out iridescent orange notice board. The Common
Room enabled us to spread out as well as using
the lovely green grassy area out the front for
the study questionnaires. We worked together with
the amazing Sandy (Lena) Djabibba as well as getting
extra support from the school, in particular George
and his attendance officers, and the community
health clinic with special mention going to Isobel,
Sue-Ellen, Ian and Helen. With all these willing
helpers you can imagine how many cakes were given
out!
Our time
was hectic but fun. The participants were an athletic
lean bunch many playing basketball and footy.
They also had a lot of support from family and
others with friends, parents, grandparents and
young children often also coming along with the
Clan Cohort members.
We found that the Clan Cohort were keen to receive
the sample bags we give out. Many were wearing
the limited edition wrist bands around the community
- the women sometimes wearing them on the upper
arm and the blokes on the ankle. The study team
was particularly pleased that participants even
helped to collect and bring in their friends,
reassuring them that it's nothing scary and maybe
even some parts can be fun.
There was
a lot of movement in the community being bush
holiday which meant it was a moving feast trying
to track some folks down, but also managed to
see some participants who live on outstations
when they came in for supplies.
The second
week began with unforeseen difficulties as the
car key was misplaced and our equipment, that
had been securely left with the Police, was inaccessible
as all resources were out looking for a young
girl who'd been taken by a crocodile on the weekend.
Kobi, back in Darwin, moved heaven and earth to
get a replacement key organised for us and eventually
the police returned in the evening.
Many of the
study team left a little poorer after visiting
the terrific Sunset market at the Women's Centre
and buying up big. There was even a sale on at
the local Art Centre the first week we were there
to tempt us.
We found
Maningrida to be a tremendously resilient community
that has made a great effort to get back on deck
and clean up and after Cyclone Monica. It's great
working in such a beautiful setting on the Liverpool
River and catching up with 66 participants.
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Oenpelli
- 8-11 August 2006
Megan's head
was on the block if she had dragged the team out
of bed before 4am for nothing. The dark-and-night-like-early-start
was to try and ensure that Cahill's Crossing would
not be inundated with water from a high-tide.
Sadly information about what height of the tide
makes Cahill's impassable was elusive.
Everyone
was good natured about it. Furthermore the early
start meant that we drove through Kakadu at sunrise,
forded the crossing without event and, on arriving
in Oenpelli, had a full day's work seeing 8 participants.
Betty, our
community research assistant, was a hard working
star - even soldering on when she was looking
weak under the weight of a cold. If anybody had
their finger on the pulse of Oenpelli, it was
our Betty. Other members of her family were of
great support to the study as well.
In the blur
of fatigue from a massive first day we settled
into the guest house overlooking the escarpment,
the billabong and a plethora of birdlife. Such
a scenic and serene scene did not go uninterrupted
by our arrival. Gurmeet set to work on the evening
meal feeling a little sheepish that she had accidentally
purchased feta instead of tofu. Her ultimate distraction
plan was to set the guest house ablaze staring
with some innocent oil and one of the house's
pots. The smoke detectors were definitely working
but our hearing wasn't by the time Joseph put
a stop to the din.
Wednesday
afternoon Sue and Kobi arrived bringing new energy,
endless enthusiasm and in Sue's case, creativity.
After an evening of making us all look the fool
with juggling balls Sue, with great cooperation
from Steve and Angela, set out with two young
CDEP workers André and Jonathan. Together
they spoke to the shyer young men of Oenpelli
Clan Cohort and set the rest of us to work as
sons, mothers and supporters poured through the
door. The team looked on in disbelief and admiration
for Sue's efforts and those of her able assistants.
There were
lots of young mothers and healthy-looking bubs
about the Conference room and pouring over the
study photo albums.
One evening
Lisa carefully hid a lengthy walk under the guise
of a "walk where others could drop by the
club". Once Sue, Gurmeet, Megan and Lisa
were almost at the airport, roughly 10kms from
the community, it was clear that the club would
be long shut by the time we returned to Oenpelli.
The marathon walk was circumvented by some on
the 3rd night and substituted with a trip to the
club and a visit to the side-shows. Here Sue and
Megan showed that they're not cut out to shoot
little metal pigs. Many young eager marksmen were
willing to have our shots for us and show us how
it's done! Kobi and Gurmeet took on the basketball
hoop challenge. Gurmeet, using unconventional
methods, won a small hippo. The methods included
having 4 attempts rather than 3 and aiming for
a different hoop! Oh, they're a nice bunch in
Oenpelli.
The grand
finale from this trip was a visit to Mamadawerre
Outstation to see two young cohort members. It
was windy. Lisa did the dental assessments on
a fallen tree and we all battled the wind to keep
the equipment in place. It was amazing to still
so much water over and by the road, a product
of a very late and good wet season.
Oenpelli
has always been a favourite community for Sue
and others in the team. It was lovely to enjoy
the flocks of pelicans, solitary whistling kites
and a welcoming community. There were lots of
laughs on this trip with the juggling, the cooking
competition dramas and Joseph's fabulous yarns.
I think now it might have become a favourite for
others too.
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