The heart, the soul, the centre
One man's journey from the desert to the Doctor of Medicine
Final-year UQ medical student and proud Pitjantjara man Pirpantji Rive-Nelson is determined to improve healthcare in Central Australia by breaking down language barriers. Pirpantji is currently attending the Rural Medical School in Toowoomba.
I was raised in a bilingual family and culture, so seeing issues of miscommunication due to language barriers was a daily affair. Medical terminology is complex and even many English-speaking people experience difficulties communicating with doctors. I want to become a highly competent clinician who can act as a bridge between Pitjantjara-speaking patients and healthcare systems back in Alice Springs.
I am motivated to be a champion for my people and the community of Central Australia, and more specifically the Anangu Pitjantjara people of the North-Western corner of South Australia, because I’ve seen the grim reality of health inequities and the lives of loved ones prematurely ended due to poor health.
My people are Pitjantjara people, who have an active language and strong culture. But our knowledge of the broader Australian society and our remote geographical location makes it difficult for us to excel in non-Pitjantjara education and healthcare systems.
My mama pulka (paternal uncle) was a ngankari (bush doctor) and was known as Doctor Nelson. While I am not a ngankari, as that is a role you are born into, I hope that my role as a western-doctor will complement our health beliefs and lead to greater healthcare engagement, and ultimately greater patient outcomes.
Pirpantji Rive-Nelson
Pirpantji Rive-Nelson
My Kuta (big brother) and I, dancing Inma Ngintaka (Perentie dreaming).
My Kuta (big brother) and I, dancing Inma Ngintaka (Perentie dreaming).
Riding motorbikes in Alice Springs.
Riding motorbikes in Alice Springs.
Growing up in Pukura (Western Australia).
Growing up in Pukura (Western Australia).
My camel Mogul.
My camel Mogul.
Meeting Dr Kelvin Kong, Australia's first Indigenous surgeon, who has become a recent professional mentor.
Meeting Dr Kelvin Kong, Australia's first Indigenous surgeon, who has become a recent professional mentor.
My passion for wanting to help my community and people is as old as my earliest memories. But my determination to study medicine evolved much later in my life. As a child I grew up without any exposure or knowledge of Aboriginal people working in the medical workforce. I didn’t know it was an option for me or for my people, which is not so surprising when you look at the statistics.
Indigenous Australians currently make up approximately three per cent of the Australian population, but only 0.3 per cent of the Australian medical workforce. It wasn’t until undertaking my Bachelor of Nursing, which involved work experience in Darwin Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, that I realised studying medicine was within my grasp and could be a role that I would enjoy immensely.
Studying medicine and participating in healthcare provision offers me everything that I crave. It’s a highly demanding and challenging role, with endless information to attain within great team-based environments. But it is the patient contact that I have enjoyed most about healthcare, first in nursing and now medicine.
Given my positive experiences so far within nursing and medicine, one of my goals is to inspire more young people in Central Australia to further their education, especially to pursue medicine so we can look after our people. My passion for the provision of high-quality healthcare in Central Australia is not restricted to Pitjantjatjara-patients, but extends to all people of Central Australia.
Soon I will take the next step in my career through an internship at Alice Springs Hospital. Eventually I’d like to be based there permanently. But I know that inevitably I will have to return to the big smoke to enter into specialist training programs.
My ultimate goal is to resettle in my home town and put my newly gained knowledge and qualifications to work benefitting Central Australia and the people that I hold so close to my heart.
Everyone in my life has been extremely supportive in so many ways to enable me to commit to this level of study in a place so far from home. From my amazing group of family and friends, through to our community healthcare service, Nganampa Health Council (Nganampa means ‘our’). I owe a great deal to my people, my community of Central Australia and the Pitjantjatjara Lands. For me, there is no greater role than providing healthcare and education for your community.
