The consistency and reliability of MAF’s scheduled flight services in Arnhem Land allow public health coordinators to deliver programmes with continuity, regardless of weather and road conditions.
Most people admire perseverance and persistence, but Miwatj Health’s Public Health Coordinator Jessica Allardyce is inspired by people quitting.
“Every person that quits is amazing,” says Jessica.
“Quits smoking,” she clarifies. “And every person that starts reducing their sugar intake is amazing.”
Having flown in with MAF, Jessica works with a Yolŋu team in Gapuwiyak (Lake Evella) to deliver local language public health programmes in a diverse range of areas such as hygiene, smoking, nutrition, oral health and sexual health.
Of her work in prevention and education, Jessica says, “It’s a lot of big things to tackle, I guess, and they’re pretty long-term projects, so we’ve just got to chip away, and hopefully get one more each week.”
The overarching goal of her team’s public health campaigns is to prevent the onset and spread of chronic disease.
East Arnhem Land has one of the highest rates of rheumatic heart disease in the world, and it often begins with something as relatively minor as scabies, which is usually just an intensely irritating skin condition.
Jessica and her team run Healthy Wanga (home, house), a hygiene programme educating people about the connection between cleanliness and health.
“This is one of the worst areas for rheumatic heart disease,” said Jessica. “So, a big focus for us is having a clean wanga and clean body, with a lot of the scabies being a problem, and rheumatic heart disease being a domino effect from scabies with bacteria getting through skin sores.”
I fly with MAF every second week, Monday and Friday, and it’s always such a great service, and I’m really, really grateful to have it here, to be able to get out as much as I do.
Jessica stays one week in Gapuwiyak every second week, and MAF’s regular flights are the most viable travel option for her role. In the dry season, the 220 km trip from Nhulunbuy town may take as little as three and half hours by 4WD vehicle on a freshly graded track – but the fortnightly trip wouldn’t be sustainable for a solo worker travelling light, and certainly wouldn’t be so straightforward in the wet season.
“Some people drive, but because it’s only me, it doesn't make sense to drive every second week with an empty vehicle – and for safety reasons as well,” Jessica said.
“So yeah, I fly with MAF every second week, Monday and Friday, and it’s always such a great service, and I’m really, really grateful to have it here, to be able to get out as much as I do.”
For Jessica and her team, some of the public health challenges in Arnhem Land are big, but MAF’s regular flights allow her to keep chipping away at problems consistently, one case, one week at a time.
