Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service WHAT ARE YOU

Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service WHAT ARE YOU SPECIFICALLY LOOKING AT? In this picture we are looking at a clinic nurse Tamsan Prunster giving a regular patient, Colleen Rollason, a International Normalised Ratio (INR) blood test. The place that this is happening at is called the Broome Regional Medical Services, commonly referred to as BRAMS. WHAT IS THE SCIENCE AT WORK? A INR test is a reading of the blood. It is performed on patients that are taking Warfarin, which is a blood thinning medicine. Depending on the results of the INR the patient will adjust the dosage of the Warfarin at particular intervals. HOW DOES IT HELP/FIT INTO THE COMMUNITY? BRAMS is the local aboriginal medical centre in Broome. It’s just like our hospital except smaller and for the aboriginal population of Broome. This place is great and has a really relaxing environment. You will usually find your family of friends getting a check-up when you go there. The BRAMS clinic offers transportation for people who need it. BRAMS has very qualified staff who are locals in Broome. The staff have great personalities and are very professional. They are always there to hear you out and treat it like a job that they look forward to every day. BRAMS caters for everyone who goes there. Whether the patient be getting a monthly check-up or is a heart attack victim. The BRAMS clinic is greatly appreciated by everyone who goes there.

Kimberley Satellite Dialysis Centre WHAT ARE YOU SPECIFICALLY LOOKING AT? Here we see an elderly aboriginal lady that has come to Broome for the Dialysis centre. The lady standing in the back is a clinic nurse. This is at the Kimberley Satellite Dialysis Centre (KSDC). HOW DOES IT HELP/FIT INTO THE COMMUNITY? The Kimberley Satellite Dialysis Centre (KSDC) is a service associated with BRAMS. It was the first Australian dialysis centre to be managed by an Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS). For a long time, Kimberley people have had to move to Perth to get their ‘life saving’ dialysis treatment. With Perth being up to 3000 km away from where they came from. This made visiting their family and friends in their community a very difficult, not to mention expensive option. So when this was first opened in October, 2002 it proved to be an excellent decision. With Broome being a very central place many people come here every year instead of having to travel a really long way. WHAT IS THE SCIENCE AT WORK? The machine that the lady is attached to is called a hemodialysis machine. The patients blood is pumped into the ‘blood compartment’ of the dialyzer. The machine filters the blood removing all the bad nutrients. The clean blood is then pumped back into her body. This would usually be done by the Kidney. Which explains why people who's Kidney has failed has to make regular visits to a dialysis centre.

Manbana Aquaculture Centre WHAT ARE YOU SPECIFICALLY LOOKING AT? WHAT IS THE SCIENCE AT WORK? In this picture we see a lot of fish tanks. This is at the Manbana Aquaculture Centre. This is only a section of what the Manbana Aquaculture Centre has to offer. Here is where they would breed fish. There all different species of fish in these tanks. To breed these species they need to measure the nutrients and their breeding habitats to make sure they have a sustainable breeding environment. e. g. . Water temperature and salination or fresh water if needed. HOW DOES IT HELP/FIT INTO THE COMMUNITY? The Manbana Aquaculture Centre preserves and ensures that we have these things in the future. The people who work at Manbana go out and get marine animals and crustaceans' from their habitat bring them back and breed them. They usually do this to the animals that there aren’t many of. But will also bring in some that are hurt. When they have successfully bred them they then return the animal to their natural habitat. This is a procedure that will prove really positive in the future.

References and Acknowledgments • BRAMS…http: //www. kamsc. org. au/brams_main_c ontent. html • KSDC…http: //www. kamsc. org. au/dialysis_centre. html • INR…http: //www. qml. com. au/89. asp • Manbana…http: //fish. manbana. com. au/ • Hemodialysis…http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Dialysis #Hemodialysis v. BRAMS v. Colleen Rollason • The following… v. KSDC v. Manbana v. Tim Gray v. Julie and Murray