WHEELCHAIR PENSIONER CAN’T ACCESS DENTIST

Eugenia Smith. Credit: Supplied.

GEOFF VIVIAN

In the Pilbara, a Kariyarra elder and pensioner is unable get to a dentist because she cannot access the mobile dental van at Hedland Health Campus in her wheelchair.

Seventy-eight year old Eugenia Smith said she did not make an appointment with the dental service because she could not climb the steps to their van.

“They’ve got no wheelchair access,” she said.

“And yet you’ve got the Lions Club and the breast cancer mob, they’ve got [access].”

Ms Smith said the Lions Club provided a wheelchair lift and the breast cancer screening service provided a ramp.

The Dental Health Services van at Hedland Health Campus is not accessible by wheelchair. Credit: Supplied.

Ms Smith said when she was a Wirraku Maya AMS board member she had successfully fought for a dental clinic at the local facility, but there was no dentist there now.

A Wirraku Maya staff member said they had tried for months to get a dentist.

Ms Smith said she could not afford a private dentist as she was not part of a Native Title group.

North Metropolitan Health, which runs the mobile clinic behind the hospital has been contacted for comment.