The WA mining town of Newman produces billions of dollars’ worth of iron ore and is also a service hub for some of Australia’s most remote communities. First Nation’s elders travel hundreds of kilometres to receive life-saving dialysis treatment there, but few have a safe place to stay, with health workers warning some are forced to sleep on the streets.
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00:00Her blood pumping through a dialysis machine, Peggy Peterson takes a moment's respite.
00:07The 58-year-old is exhausted.
00:09Staying in the relatives is very hard because we are the family members coming in and knocking
00:17on the door and banging on the door.
00:19Miss Peterson got little sleep last night, staying in this house with 10 other people.
00:24She's one of dozens who travel to Newman from remote communities for life-saving renal care.
00:29Many rely on family and friends for accommodation.
00:33Patients and medical staff are crying out for a short-stay renal hostel.
00:37The immunity is weak.
00:38You know, you don't have a kidney.
00:40So expecting such an elder to stay with family of 20, 15, 20 people is just not ideal.
00:50Dialysis units in Kalgoorlie and Port Hedland have hostels, and others are planned for Broome
00:55in Karratha, but not here.
00:57Accommodation is so dire, dialysis patients are sleeping at the local football oval.
01:01If they don't dialyse, they die.
01:03So they opt to sleep on the street.
01:05A short drive from the clinic, BHP pulls billions of dollars in iron ore out of the ground.
01:10The mining giant owns 1,100 homes, 130 are boarded up.
01:15But some are being made available to be used as a hostel.
01:18I recognise it hasn't been as fast as what we would have liked collectively as a community,
01:22but starting to see some real progress now, and that is exciting.
01:25While it's in a pretty poor state, this is one of five abandoned homes donated by mining
01:30giant BHP to house the short-term hostel.
01:34There's also plans for a cleaning facility where patients can wash their clothes and
01:39shower while on the road, but advocates say they still need $9 million to convert this
01:45derelict building into an acceptable state.
01:48We are Indigenous people of Australia, and we should have a right to ask for things that we need.
01:55Peggy Peterson just wants a place to get a good night's rest.