Three years ago Richard Kanari left his job in the Northern Territory and moved to Western Australia to be close to his family and community while he looked after his ailing wife, Kathryn Jackson.
Mr Kanari made the decision to move with the confidence that Ms Jackson could be treated at one of the kidney clinics close to home.
But for the past year, dialysis unit closures in remote communities have left Ms Jackson and many others with no option but to relocate thousands of kilometres away from home for treatment.
"There's a lot [of people] here [Kalgoorlie] from the community," Mr Jackson said.
Hospital at full capacity
Dialysis units across several remote communities including Warburton and Wanarn have been closed due to staff issues, a direct result of harsh remote life and border restrictions put in place by the WA government.
This has forced patients to relocate to various centres across the state, with many transferred to either Perth or Kalgoorlie.
Patients transferred to clinics in other states, such as Docker River in the Northern Territory, have been left in indefinite isolation because of WA's hard border policy, with many not being able to see family for months.
Luckily for Mr Kanari, he and his family have been able to visit Ms Jackson despite long, 14-hour trips back and forth between the land and Kalgoorlie.
WA Country Health Service's regional director for the Goldfields, Peter Tredinnick, said the 12-dialysis chair unit at the Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital had provided more than 6,700 dialysis treatments in 2021 alone, operating at full capacity over the past three years.
He said there were currently 48 patients receiving renal dialysis treatment at the hospital with more patients expected to join the list.
"Four patients are currently receiving their dialysis treatment elsewhere with the aim of transferring them to Kalgoorlie as soon as is clinically appropriate," Mr Tredinnick said.
Why clinics are closed
Many of the remote dialysis clinics, including Warburton and Wanarn, are operated by non-government organisation Purple House which has been trying hard to secure staff to keep patients close to the land and their communities.
Purple House chief executive Sarah Brown said factors outside of their control led to the closure of the clinics.
"Kiwirrkurra hasn't had drinkable water for over a year. So when that is addressed we can reopen there," she said.
"COVID-related border closures and national nurse shortages made it impossible to keep the Wanarn and Warburton units open for certain periods."
Ms Brown said over the past two years they had faced similar challenges across their dialysis units in the Northern Territory and South Australia.
Migration to regional towns
Mr Kanari said fears of COVID-19 entering the community and an absence of vital health services were already driving people out of remote communities.
"[Living] in community is good but it's a hard life to stay there," he said.
"If anything happens, people will go straight to the hospital and get treated."
Ms Brown said Purple House was anticipating opening the Warburton unit in April this year, with the Wanarn unit dependent on the border reopening.
"It's been tough for patients keen to get back to community and we would always rather have units open," she said.
Ms Brown said the organisation was delighted to be working with Puntukurnu Aboriginal Medical Service in Newman, and would soon be opening the first community-controlled dialysis unit in the Pilbara.
"It feels like things are turning a corner and we can't wait to help more WA dialysis patients get home on country with family," she said.
