When Home Heals: Dialysis and the Power of Staying on Country

What happens when a remote island community must build its own dialysis unit to keep families together? In Galiwin’ku, a Yolŋu community on Elcho Island in the Northern Territory, rates of chronic kidney disease are rising, forcing many to leave their homelands for life-saving dialysis treatment—often hundreds of kilometres away. In this episode, Dr Sarah Hanieh speaks with Charlie Yebarrarr Dhamarrandji, a community member undergoing dialysis, and Kat Baxter, a dedicated dialysis nurse from Purple House—an Indigenous-led healthcare service providing dialysis in remote communities. Together, they discuss the profound significance of the new local dialysis unit: what it means for culture, identity, and community.