The family of a homeless First Nations woman who is sick with septicemia fear she will die without a safe home, but advocates warn it could be years before she reaches the top of the public housing waiting list.<\/p>\n
Andrea Woodley has been in and out of hospital for weeks with sepsis, triggered by infected blisters on her feet after sleeping rough in inner city Perth. The Noongar, Budimaya and Nyikina woman and her loved ones fear that without a home she is at risk of death.<\/p>\n
Her mother, Heather Taylor, who lives 2,000km away in Derby in the Western Australian Kimberley region, said she was told her daughter\u2019s sepsis, which has spread to her heart and lungs, could be fatal without proper treatment. Doctors also told Taylor her daughter would need appropriate housing in which to recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor called me and said that Andrea had bacterial pneumonia, and the bacteria had gone to her heart, the left chamber, left side of her heart,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Oh my God\u2019. And she had septicemia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodley was discharged from Armadale hospital back to the streets. Taylor said she worried her daughter would be unable to keep on top of taking her antibiotics and attendingoutpatient treatment. She also worries she will not be able to access appropriate clothing, socks and shoes to protect her feet.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI said: \u2018You\u2019ve got to be very, very careful. The doctor said you could die. So I\u2019m telling you to be very careful\u2019,\u201d Taylor said. She told Guardian Australia she fears that every phone call is bad news.<\/p>\n Andrea Woodley. Her mother says access to a safe and secure home could save her daughter\u2019s life. Photograph: Frances Andrijich\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Woodley has been sleeping rough since 2023, after her Broome home was firebombed by a violent stalker. She later left the Kimberley entirely due to ongoing fears for her safety. Andrea has given permission for her mother and her advocates to speak on her behalf because she has been unwell. Her phone was stolen after she was discharged from hospital, leaving her uncontactable.<\/p>\n Taylor said her daughter, who is the mother of five children, has suffered trauma and violence on the streets and worries that she will be made even more vulnerable due to her illnesses.<\/p>\n \u201cShe can\u2019t walk on her feet. She\u2019s more at risk. That makes her at risk of being attacked,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cShe can\u2019t run or anything, and that\u2019s why she\u2019s afraid. She sleeps where there are cameras, bright lights in the city \u2013 she will try and get to the shelters early enough.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really frightened that something\u2019s gonna happen to her. The next time she gets sick, it might be too late.\u201d<\/p>\n The family have experienced intergenerational trauma and violence, including having children forcibly removed, losing a sibling and chronic housing instability.<\/p>\n Lawyer and housing advocate Dr Betsy Buchanan, from Daydawn, a Catholic advocacy organisation that supports First Nations people, has known Woodley and her family for years. She said she has been concerned for Woodley\u2019s safety and wellbeing since the 39-year-old was released from prison into homelessness earlier this year.<\/p>\n Buchanan has written on Woodley\u2019s behalf to the WA housing department and the office of the housing minister.<\/p>\n \u201cI rang and informed them that Andrea was so ill and had nearly died from sleeping rough,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they said she would still have another two-year wait, even though she had very strong medical letters from her doctors.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve just got a stock answer that \u2018everyone on the priority list is the same\u2019, and they don\u2019t make any exception to the fact that a First Nation person might be dying.\u201d<\/p>\n The WA government has been under increasing pressure about public housing waiting lists. Last week it announced it was banning \u201cno ground\u201d evictions \u2013 a policy which up until now has disproportionately affected First Nations families.<\/p>\n Jesse Noakes, a campaigner with End Unfair Evictions, said it was a welcome move.<\/p>\n \u201cIn recent years, the state government has evicted hundreds of families from public housing without grounds at the end of fixed term tenancies,\u201d Noakes said.<\/p>\n Last month, Guardian Australia reported that a Noongar woman had died of sepsis just weeks after giving birth<\/a>, and two months after she was evicted from public housing.<\/p>\n