Bowen Hospital Indigenous Health Worker Charmaine Pangi feared the virus would finish her off alone in a lonely hospital bed without her mob and loved ones by her side.
There was more than one moment Charmaine thought she was done for as she struggled to breath in the COVID-19 ward at Mackay Base Hospital.
Her biggest fear was dying alone as she lay in bed sucking in as much oxygen as she could.
“I thought who would hear me gasping for breath? What a messed-up way to go, all on my own. Where’s my mob, my family and my friends? I knew I could press a buzzer and the nurse would come but I didn’t want to go without my people around me,” she said.
As an Indigenous Health Worker at Bowen Hospital Charmaine is determined to use her experience to encourage others to mask up, and made a series of videos from her bedside.
“I thought I have to do something, I don’t care how it looks, I just need to tell people wear that mask properly. Don’t wear it under your nose – cover your mouth and nose.
“I always say with my job I practice what I preach. COVID is a big thing and so many people in rural areas are blaze about it. If I can show what it’s actually like and what it does to you, people might realise how sick it makes you.
“I would have been gone it I wasn’t vaccinated.”
Her first symptoms were feeling hot and generally a bit ‘off’ one afternoon before testing positive the next day. Within hours she was in an ambulance headed to Mackay.
“When I couldn’t breathe properly the tightening in my chest was horrible, I’ve never had a feeling like this before. I’ve had chest pain and kidney pain, but this was something else,” she said.
Charmaine is a kidney transplant recipient and immunosuppressed, making her more vulnerable to illness.
“I’ve been to hell and back with kidney pain, but this COVID pain was something else. There’s not way to describe that horrible feeling of not being able to get enough air into your lungs” she said.
Charmaine is an Aboriginal woman from Victoria who has called Bowen home for 30 years.
Her kidney transplant came from a living donor.
“He’s a Juru man from Bowen and is a traditional custodian, so my ties to Bowen and country here are strong,” she said.
Charmain is now recovering at home with support from the virtual ward and says she is feeling better with fewer coughing fits.
The care of her community has also helped. “Mike Brunker put a post on Facebook asking for prayers and support for me and it made me feel so loved and cared for.
“And that’s the best thing about rural communities is that we all stick together no matter what. We share our love and our everything to help one another
“I’m so grateful for everything, it’s been a long and lonely road to get home but there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
