KAMS DENIES DIALYSIS TO YAMAJI ELDER

Derek Councillor

GEOFF VIVIAN

A Naaguja elder who lives in Geraldton missed two dialysis sessions while on a trip to the East Kimberley, even though he had booked them a month in advance.

Derek Councillor said when he arrived on a Thursday morning he phoned the Kununurra clinic to confirm his 2pm appointment.

However he was told someone had phoned to cancel it, that they could not reschedule it and he would have to wait for his Saturday appointment.

The next day he attended a funeral in Wyndham where he was a pallbearer, but took a call at 3.45 pm giving him 15 minutes to come in and sign a consent form.

Mr Councillor said he told the clinic, “I can’t make it to Kununurra in 15 minutes; I’m one hour away.”

“They said, ‘well I’m sorry but we won’t be able to accommodate you tomorrow.’”

Mr Councillor said he had no choice but to continue his duties as a pallbearer.

“I rang Geraldton dialysis,” he said. “I said to one of the nurses there, ‘look, they’ve denied me dialysis twice. Am I going to be alive come Monday morning, back in Geraldton?’

“By the time I got back to Geraldton I was so sick that I had to be wheeled in a wheelchair to dialysis.”

Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service, which runs the Kununurra dialysis clinic, has been contacted for comment.