Established by raising over $1 million in funding at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation (Western Desert Dialysis) has grown into a trailblazing community controlled health organisation. Focused on providing dialysis treatment and support services to Indigenous renal patients from remote communities across Central Australia, the organisation’s name means ‘making all families well’ in the Pintupi Luritja language. Run by Aboriginal people for Aboriginal people, Western Desert Dialysis wraps traditional ways of caring and being around modern medicine.
The Western Desert Dialysis mission is to improve the lives of people with renal failure, reunite families and reduce the incidence of kidney disease in their communities. This is done through the provision of dialysis treatments at the ‘Purple House’ in Alice Springs and the travelling ‘Purple Truck’, which allows people to stay on Country to look after, and be looked after by, their families. By taking an holistic and culturally appropriate approach to healthcare, Western Desert Dialysis is contributing to stronger, healthier communities.
Nurse Helen Martin (left) and dialysis patient Phynea Maher (right) at Western Desert Dialysis.
