Sandra Stephenson

Despite not knowing much about this part of the Northern Territory Sandra left Torquay feeling confident and excited for the adventures that lay ahead of her. When Sandra arrived in the community of Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island, approximated 550km north-east of Darwin, she met the dentist she was going to work with during her placement.

 

Together Sandra and her dentist visited other remote communities in East Arnhem Land including Mapuru, Matamata and Gawa. Sandra says, ‘The most important thing I have felt when going on a remote Indigenous placement is to go with an open mind and be prepared to learn about Indigenous Australians, and learn from them’.

 

Sandra and her dentist were in charge of loading and unloading the light aircraft with all the dental gear needed for their work including the overhead light, the compressor, dental bracket table, mobile suction unit, dental materials and more.

 

The first community Sandra worked at on this placement was Mapuru, which has a population of approximately 200 people. Sandra describes Mapuru as ‘Beautiful, not just one particular feature, but the arrangement of things, like the dense bushland, the gum-trees, the smoke filtering through the trees, the dirt tracks, even the rusted out cars are beautiful!’

 

 After setting up for an hour, Sandra and her dentist were ready to start seeing the children. Over the following two days the dental team had a slow and steady stream of children’s check-ups and exams, fissure sealants and extractions and small fillings on adults.

 

During her time in Mapuru Sandra enjoyed being a part of the local community as she’d roll out her swag and read and chat with the locals or just listen to the sounds of the night. By the Friday afternoon Sandra and her dentist had packed everything back in the plane and flown back to Elcho Island for the weekend. The next two communities Sandra’s dental team visited were Matamata and Gawa.

 

While on placement, Sandra enjoyed engaging with the communities outside her professional practice. She would play basketball with the children in the afternoons and one day was invited to go sailing by the school principal’s husband. Sandra says, ‘It was magic and the sunset was amazing. Mind you, I couldn’t help but think about what was lurking around under the water and what would happen if we capsized due to crocs being everywhere’.

 

‘This experience has shown me what I was capable of doing, and I was able to use a variety of skills that I had built up over the years from working with lots of different people from different backgrounds’.

 

Sandra offers the advice, ‘I would encourage my work colleagues to step out of their comfort zones, just this once, and go on an experience of a lifetime!’