Queensland Kidney Transplant Services at PA Hospital are celebrating a record number of Indigenous kidney transplants growing from six transplants in five weeks, to seven, then eight... and now it's nine kidney transplants in eight weeks!
Heralding in NAIDOC Week, the milestone for this growing program is highlighting how PA Hospital's Kidney Transplant Service is improving health equity for First Nations Queenslanders and driving access throughout Queensland to this gift of life.
Director of Metro South Kidney and Transplant Service, Professor David Johnson, said the growing success of the Indigenous Kidney Transplant Program is thanks to a number of specific cultural initiatives to make kidney support more accessible for Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
“The combined success of our Outreach Service across the state, Indigenous Kidney Support Worker, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Liaison team, has all played a part in the overall momentum of the program.
“Just eight years ago, in 2015, four Indigenous Queenslanders received a kidney transplant which was the start of our focus on the program for First Nations people,” he said. “Here we are completing four Indigenous kidney transplants in a month with a record nine in two months which is very encouraging.”
Clinical Nurse Consultant in Kidney Services, Gary Torrens who runs the state-wide Kidney Outreach Program said many of the patients who are part of this record number of transplants were connected to the service through the Outreach Program.
“We have provided education on country to the individual and their family about the journey through transplantation and we focus on culturally safe and culturally appropriate care. An important part of the journey is supporting those people who come down to Brisbane with the patient,” he said.
A consistent perspective from families who come from far north and western Queensland is a call to have the same standard of service and cultural safety closer to home and Professor Johnson said plans are underway to advance the North Queensland Transplant Centre.
“We know that a third of our kidney transplant patients come from North Queensland and a significant proportion of our kidney transplant patients are Indigenous,” Professor Johnson said.
“A North Queensland unit will remove barriers to referral, access and assessment; it will remove the difficulties with transport logistics with actually getting to their transplant; and patients will be managed closer to home and their support networks in the post-transplant phase.”
Thoughts from the Indigenous Kidney Transplant cohort
- Gregory Bond | Cherbourg: By day 6 of my new kidney transplant, I felt great. The staff are good and I am happy and thankful to have a new kidney.
- Stacey Maison | Rockhampton: Before my transplant, the 4BT staff were excellent with communication and very informative. Being a nurse myself, the clinic management was of a high standard.
- Donald Fraser | Cairns: The contact from staff in outpatients was very good. They treated me very well, they made sure that I was right to come back home, thank you everyone.
- Helena Dempsey | Mt Isa: They did everything right, I can’t fault them. They went above and beyond with everything that I asked for.
- Saimo Rosemary Naymark Kris | Thursday Island: The 4BT acute outpatient staff were really good and I really enjoyed their support and encouragement.
- Annie Ries | Tara: I felt very safe culturally with all the staff and doctors, it was very good.
- Dallas McKeown | Cairns: The whole process has been brilliant from the ward to the renal outpatients. All the services provided to me have been done with a strong sense of cultural safety.
- Samaow Rose Sambo | Thursday Island: I feel very supported when I am learning about my transplant medication.
- Raymond Sambo | Cairns: I have had ‘the call’ a few times on the way to actually getting the transplant. On one of my call ups, I was given a choice to take the kidney or not and was informed so I could make that choice. Everyone understands that each time you get the call that there is a kidney, it takes some time to adjust to the news. Both kidney doctors in Cairns and Brisbane have been great as well as the staff who have provided good support throughout my journey to now after getting the transplant.