Alpha Hotel

This second book by Ruth Archer documents the last six years and two months, from December 1969 to January 1976, that she spent in Papua New Guinea. It continues the story told in her first book Delta Echo, which described her first three years in that country. Ruth worked as a nurse and midwife under the auspices of the United Church in Papua New Guinea, firstly at Fife Bay, as told in Delta Echo, and then at Iruna, which is the subject of Alpha Hotel. Iruna hospital, situated in Amazon Bay on the southeast coast of Papua, was also a nurse training school. For the first few years, it had a doctor as well as nursing staff. Ruth and her colleagues cared for the local Mailu and Daga people at the hospital and patrolled the surrounding villages, both coastal and inland, to carry out immunisation programmes, and check on every child under five years and ante-natal mothers. The trainee nurses and orderlies came from various parts of the country, and spoke many different languages, so that the teaching and the examinations all had to be in English The hospital admitted people with a wide variety of ailments, including snakebite, and the staff were kept busy delivering babies, and treating long term patients with TB and leprosy. One advantage that Amazon Bay had over Fife Bay was its airstrip, enabling patients with medical emergencies to be transferred relatively quickly to hospital in Port Moresby. Everyday life was often stressful and brought with it the tragedies and triumphs found in any community. There were also frightening and funny moments but the support of the local church enabled a great deal to be achieved although resources were limited. The book covers some notable events, as the country first achieved Self-Government and then in 1975, Independence from Australia. It was an exciting time to be in a country attaining nationhood.

Publisher -

Author(s) - Ruth Archer

Paperback

Published Date -

ISBN - 9781910616895

Dimensions - 21 x 14.8 x 1.7 cm

Page Count - 265