A caring employer - Queensland Health
I read about this the other day and just could not believe it.
A nurse, working alone on the Torres Strait island of Mabuiag, was raped late one night in February. She rang emergency, got diverted to Cairns police, 1000 km away, and told them she had just been raped and that the alleged perpetrator was still outside her building with several of his drunken mates. He’d also stolen a bottle of vodka and she feared he would be back. The police officer said he would immediately ring the community police officer on the island, but reported back to the victim that the local representative of the law had responded it was raining and he was not prepared to walk around to the crime scene in the rain, even though he was told the alleged perpetrator was still on the premises. The community police officer later rang a neighbour of the surgery and he came over to be with the nurse. The community police officer turned up at 6.30am, after the rain stopped.
At 7.30am the victim rang her director of nursing on Thursday Island. The woman director told her the rape and burglary was unfortunate and that she should return to work at 9am. Compassion plus!!!! The nurse insisted she wanted to be flown out and was told she could catch the only commercial flight at 11am. She replied that could not be done because police were coming (two hours by boat) from Thursday Island to inspect the crime scene and take her statement. She was told the next day when she repeated her request to be flown home to Sydney that she would be brought only to Thursday Island, no accommodation provided, no medical attention organised and that any days away would be deducted from her pay or leave. It was made clear that Queensland Health did not consider the rape worthy of reporting and they were not prepared to help her.
She mistakenly thought that Queensland Health, with helicopters, doctors, nurses, crisis counsellors, the Royal Flying Doctor Service on call and a Medivac helicopter available at Thursday Island, 30 minutes flight away, would activate an immediate response. I mean any decent employer would have done something like that had one of their people been harmed like this. In fact, they cut off her pay from that day, and did not pay out her contract until last Friday after details were published in the media.
In the end, her boyfriend, who worked on Horn Island, had to fly in by helicopter on February 5, take her by boat the 40 minutes across Torres Strait to Badu Island where she received her first medical help and examination. He then had to pay $800 to charter a plane to get her to Thursday Island by which time the Queensland Nurses Union had arranged for the department to fly her to Sydney.
Queensland Health and the Queensland government are blaming the nurse’s treatment on an administrative bungle. Northern area general manager Ms Roxanne Ramsey explained that the nurse’s treatment was the result of “a local breakdown in communications in organising for her to be taken from the island”. I just don’t buy that … it was actually caused by people in the organisation at various levels not giving a damn. It is a sign of a very sick organisation. I can’t help but contrast it with what I believe my company would do if faced with similar circumstances. I reckon senior management would be all over it and spare no expense in assisting her, and demanding that solutions be implemented so it could not happen again. I don’t know that for sure, but I’m very confident based on other things my employer does that it would respond well.
I’d also suggest there’d be heads rolling over inaction prior to the attack, which if acted upon properly, is likely to have prevented it. For instance, when the nurse arrived on Mabuiag, the clinic and quarters were filthy. There was no running water, no gas to run the stove, no air-conditioning working, intermittent power and no security on her building. Her report on arrival to her superiors set out that the flat was “filthy with mould and fungus growing everywhere; chewing gum in blinds, used ear-sticks in blinds and cupboards, stove covered with grease, bed bugs, no television, no water to wash with or flush toilets, security screen door at the front hanging off its hinges, no air-conditioning and no blinds or curtains in bedroom or bathroom”. Her complaints to the department were ignored. Just weeks ago a single woman teacher on Mabuiag left because she was frightened by peeping toms who stalked her at night, looking through her windows that had to be kept open because she had no air-conditioning in the oppressive tropical heat. The inevitability of the attack was sounded in a warning in a departmental internal report on all employee accommodation 16 months ago, where the risk was described by as “extreme”.
But I bet no one gets fired from Queensland Health. No accountability there. I’d have said that those presiding over a culture that allows such things to happen are clearly incapable of fulfilling their responsibilities, for example her manager on Thursday Island, the regional general manager, certainly the HR department, the property management department. There are clearly several people in the organisation who deserve immediate dismissal, judging from the organisation’s response.
The nurse is clearly more forgiving than me. As health officials today met community leaders on Mabuiag, Queenland Premier, Ms Bligh said the nurse was considering returning to work for Queensland Health. If I was her, I wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole.
The Premier acknowledged Mabuiag could be left without a dedicated health worker for some time.
“Mabuiag is a very small island with a very small population,” Ms Bligh said.
“A number of their health needs for many years have been met by having visiting health workers and that is continuing.
“We are very confident that we will be able to provide another nurse into that community.
“But it might take a little time, as it does in remote communities.”
I’d be less inclined to do anything to help them myself. I think I’d be saying “fuck you” to the community, and leave them to their own devices unless they handed over the alleged rapist, and agreed to testify truthfully about anything they witnessed. I’m not big on helping those who won’t help themselves.
