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Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) nurse Angelina Villarba has been named the Kidney Health Australia Renal Nurse of the Year in recognition of her work in the Kimberley.
Ms Villarba works intensively with dialysis patients, helping them to develop the skills to manage their condition at home and live productive lives.
Health Minister Jim McGinty said Ms Villarba was an outstanding nurse, who showed tremendous commitment to her patients.
"Nurses such as Angelina continue to provide Western Australians, even those in the most remote parts of our State, a first class medical service," the Minister said.
"By visiting and tending to patients in the Kimberley and Pilbara, Angelina is helping them to look after their own treatment, cutting down the need for them to travel to Perth.
"This allows them to spend more time with their families and less time in hospital."
Ms Villarba has 10 country patients, including indigenous people from remote locations in the Kimberley, Pilbara and Murchison regions.
These patients belong to Royal Perth Hospital's Remote Area Dialysis Program (RADP).
Ms Villarba also looks after 15 patients from the metro area.
"It is great to see patients becoming empowered to care for themselves at home," Ms Villarba said.
"They spend two to three months at RPH learning to control their own dialysis treatment, putting needles into themselves and learning to problem-solve with the machine.
"They need to have quite advanced knowledge because they have to manage their own treatment."
Ms Villarba spends about three days with each patient in their home or community, ensuring they, their carer and dialysis machine are all working effectively and efficiently.
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