Big Smoke

Today Jason and I officially became locals in Alice Springs- the Todd river has flowed three times whilst we've lived here!

I will tell a story, but not in a Crocodile Dundee, or Gods-Must-Be-Crazy way, I hope.

One of my patients was a middle aged Aboriginal lady, who came from a long way out bush. At least one day's drive. She had never been to Alice Springs before in her whole life. As luck would have it, she injured herself whilst here in the Big Smoke, and had to come to hospital.

She sat in the cubicle looking terrified, and told me quite frankly, "I'm very scared. I've never been to Alice Springs before." She asked if her husband could be called in from the waiting room- unlike the locals, she didn't realise that most people bring a family member through to the department with them. So he came through. When I told them both that she would need to stay in hospital, her husband said- so very softly that I had to literally put my ear up to his mouth-"We've never been here before. I should stay with my wife." He indicated that he would sleep on the floor by her bed.

So we organised for him to stay in the hospital too. A couple of hours later I ran into him upstairs on level 1, looking for an office that is actually on the ground floor. It was strange, because I realised that he was in exactly the right position, but one floor up. In hindsight, I think that they'd taken the elevator and he didn't realise he'd gone up a level.

So I showed him the way down to the office, via the stairwell. We entered the stairwell and he stopped completely, just looking at the stairs and at me very carefully. Then he grasped the handrail firmly and stepped down very slowly. When he reached the landing, he continued holding the handrail and walked the long way around to the stairs again. Then continued his slow descent.

I don't think he had used a staircase before- or at least not a big, two-storey-building staircase. Retelling this story, I feel terrible that I didn't show him the way back to his wife. I hope he found the way.