NEWS
Guest Blog from Mr Tom Leach
Health Teacher and House Parent, Marrara Christian College, Northern Territory
My wife and I first met a young man with RHD over 6 years ago and shared his journey through various roles we have held at Marrara Christian College. We are now house parents in one of Marrara Christian College’s Family Group Homes. At the moment we look after 10 young, indigenous fellas aged between 12 and 16.
At times we have to take students to urban clinics with combinations of sore throats, sores, aching joints or fever. We now always ask the doctors about the possibility of rheumatic fever. One of our boys received an appointment letter for a echocardiogram. We weren’t sure who referred him to NT Cardiac. Our response was to take the boy to Bagot Clinic, as we know they would access his medical history, to make sure if he required penicillin injections or not. We are looking forward to the release of ‘Take Heart‘ so we can share the film with other house parents, teachers and possibly families.