We have recently returned from the fifth Deadly Heart Trek to provide education and critical early diagnoses and treatment for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Together with the local health workers and schools, this strengths-based work supplemented current services which are underfunded and under-resourced, improving access to health services and building community resilience and self-determination.

Over 2 weeks, we visited 12 communities in the Katherine and Big Rivers Region, and delivered education sessions and activities to approximately 1,000 community members at schools, health clinics and community gathering places.

Community survey responses to date show they would warmly welcome the teams’ return and recommend the Trek to others, reflecting both its clinical value and the trust built through genuine, community-led partnership.

Screening results for children and young people:

•    816 children screened, 92% (752) Aboriginal
•    741 normal hearts
•    27 new RHD cases diagnosed, treated and reviewed
•    15 known RHD cases (all Aboriginal)
•    42 total RHD cases identified (all Aboriginal)
•    5.1% of all children screened had RHD (5.6% among Aboriginal children)
•    32% (238) had skin infections from those who received skin checks

The World Heart Federation defines a high burden of RHD as more than 0.2% of children affected. This region therefore faces an extremely high burden, with 5.1% of children screening positive.

Our huge thank you to Partners: Sunrise Health Service, Katherine West Health Board, Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service, the schools, Community Elders and Leaders including Wardaman/Dagoman Cultural Leader May Rosas, Sunrise Chairperson Anne-Marie Lee and the Jawoyn Elders, NT Rheumatic Heart Disease Control Program, Department of Education NT, NT Health, Strong Hearts, NT Cardiac, Central Aboriginal Land Council, Northern Aboriginal Land Council, The Goods Project, HeartKids, Heart Foundation Australia, Humpty Dumpty Foundation, GE Healthcare, Deadly Science, VioletCo and Take Heart.

Thank you also to the Trek’s founding philanthropic partner Snow Foundation, providing project management, logistics, community engagement, funding and communications for the Deadly Heart Trek.

We will continue to listen, learn, and advocate alongside communities and partners to improve health outcomes through self-determination, complementing and strengthening long-term First Nations leadership.

We will also continue talking with politicians and key stakeholders to increase awareness and drive action for more funding and attention to #endRHD

“Your visit has made real difference. The way you connected with our community, educated and highlighted the importance of your screening meant so much to us. You didn’t just bring important information; you discovered 1 x teenager at our school who never knew she had rheumatic heart disease and as a result, she will now get the ongoing care that she needs.
Our near by communities also highlighted cases of rheumatic heart disease in many youths that would have otherwise lived with this condition unnoticed and more devastatingly untreated.”

Here’s a taste of the media coverage:

‘Trek tackles heart disease cruelling Indigenous lives’ – National Indigenous Times, 6 August

‘This team is trekking to stop a preventable disease that’s hyperendemic in remote Indigenous communities’ – SBS NITV 15 August

Thank you from The Deadly Hearts Board: Co-Chair Vicki Wade – Associate Professor, First Nations Senior Research Fellow, Menzies, Paediatric Cardiologists Dr Bo Remenyi, Dr Gavin Wheaton and Dr Rob Justo, Karen Iles – Director and Principal Violet Legal & Consulting, Co-Chair Georgina Byron – CEO The Snow Foundation.