Sometimes a story is about more than one life, more than one legend, more than one community.
This is the story of how St John deployed a tenacious medical team on two hours’ notice to help protect a remote community. It’s about individuals—and communities—faced with many unknowns, working together under pressure.
In early 2020, four health workers in Halls Creek test positive for COVID-19. This means many Halls Creek Hospital staff have to go into precautionary isolation and can’t work. The hospital calls for help—it needs back-up nurses and paramedics.
Indigenous communities are highly vulnerable to COVID-19. It’s a very frightening situation for a tiny, remote town to find itself in.
Within hours, St John staff are asked if they are available to assist. A special operations paramedic, Graham, has watched his colleagues head off to Howard Springs over recent weeks and reckons it’s time he put his hand up—for his workmates, for the community.
A highly experienced search-and-rescue firefighter and logistics legend, and six nurses, will also go.
They have two hours to pack their bags for what is expected to be a two-week operation. (It ends up being double that.) Graham leaves behind two young sons and a wife who is also a paramedic; she has taken time off from her own work so that Graham may go. Everyone is banding together to make this special mission possible. Graham’s little boys don’t know when their dad will return.
“IT TAKES A COMMUNITY TO PROTECT A COMMUNITY”
Graham and his team are as prepared as they can possibly be going into Halls Creek, but the truth is the team don’t know what to expect. They don’t know what resources will be available, and they don’t know what their job will be when they get there: that’s yet to be seen.
As outsiders, they must tread lightly and respectfully. Community members are anxious that the virus will spread. They are rightly protective. And, once the St John team starts working alongside them, they are very, very appreciative.
As it turns out, Graham’s crew is responsible for running the town’s ambulances, setting up COVID-testing clinics, taking blood samples, monitoring patients and making evacuation plans should they be needed.
As well as providing medical help, they develop relationships with the local Indigenous community, once fixing a sick boy’s stroller so his family can get around town. The family’s gratitude is a reminder there are many ways to give as a paramedic. In fact, Graham takes the special connection away with him as a lasting memory of his time in Halls Creek.
They do 49 ambulance runs in the four weeks. They’re on call 24/7—for the entire four weeks. It’s exhausting and fulfilling.
Graham will never forget the stunning red dirt country and appreciative smiles.
‘It’s never easy to leave your family,’ he says. ‘But things were looking grim for WA. I knew my training was needed and I wanted to do my bit.’
And did COVID-19 spread beyond the initial cluster in Halls Creek?
No. Not a chance.
Illustration –Jake Ransom
