Not your standard CEO
By Laini Bennett
Wednesday, 01 May, 2019
The backyard of Purple House features a fire pit where Aboriginal dialysis patients, their friends and family sit around talking and cooking kangaroo tails. Purple House is not your standard dialysis centre, and their CEO is not your standard CEO. Sarah Brown shares her leadership journey from remote area nurse to running Australia’s most successful dialysis network.
Despite years of experience, tertiary qualifications and a proven track record, Purple House CEO Sarah Brown doesn鈥檛 like describing herself as a leader. 鈥淚 hate that word,鈥� she said. She prefers to describe herself as 鈥榮teering the Starship Purple House鈥�, and recognises that she is not your 鈥榯ypical鈥� businesswoman.
鈥淚 am a woman who has never worn high heels in her life, has never worn lipstick and likes to have a joke. For me, the challenge is to puff myself up with health bureaucrats and those sorts of people,鈥� she said.
Building a health network
To understand Brown鈥檚 story, it鈥檚 worth understanding the organisation she works for.
Purple House is a network of dialysis, social support services and now, aged-care services for the Aboriginal community that are dotted across Central Australia and branch into Western Australia. They are owned and run by the Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation.
Purple House was borne from a need to provide dialysis services on country, saving Aboriginal elders the stress and indignity of seeking end-of-life treatment for renal failure far from home and community. The idea for the service came from the Pintupi people of the Western Desert, who raised $1 million for it through the sale of their own artwork and other donated Aboriginal paintings.
Brown joined Purple House as a part-time project manager, responsible for launching their first dialysis service in Kintore. Some 16 years later, she has over 150 employees running 19 dialysis services, nine social support services, a newly launched aged-care service and the Purple Truck mobile dialysis unit.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 have imagined being in the same job for 16 years, but it鈥檚 changing all the time,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭he challenges are different and the rewards and headaches are different, too.鈥�
听
A love of nursing and country
Brown was born in England and immigrated to Australia with her family in 1974. Growing up in Maryborough, Queensland, she was a self-described 鈥減ale little Pommy kid with a broad Black Country accent that none of the other kids could understand鈥�. Desperate to fit in, she began studying her adopted country鈥檚 history and in the process, discovered the Aboriginal story, past and present. It struck a chord with her that continued to reverberate throughout her life.
Following in the footsteps of her mother, she became a nurse. 鈥淚 thought nursing would be a job that would give me lots of options to travel the world and have lots of adventures. I have yet to travel the world, but I鈥檝e had lots of adventures,鈥� she said.
Working as a remote area nurse, often in communities where she was the only clinician, gave her a strong foundation in the health and social challenges facing Aboriginal communities, and drove home the importance of building relationships.
鈥淭here are lots of remote area nurses who run around like chooks with their heads cut off, focused on workload and how much there is to do,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 the relationships you build with each other that last. It helped me to think outside the box, to really take the time to listen to people to find out what they wanted, and how they wanted services delivered.鈥�
Focus on people
This emphasis on relationships is palpable throughout the organisation, with Brown encouraging her team to build a rapport not only with patients, the board and the community, but with the volunteers, tourists, bureaucrats and philanthropists who broadcast Purple House鈥檚听good work and contribute funding to their services.
Relationships are also the bedrock on which the organisation鈥檚 culture is built. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an international shortage of dialysis nurses. We don鈥檛 pay as much as some places and we are expecting people to live in remote communities and work a 6-day roster, but we鈥檝e got a queue of dialysis nurses waiting to work for us.
鈥淭hat shows me that we鈥檙e looking after each other. It might sound twee, but if you get to build the culture of the place from the start and focus on people and the fundamentals, then good people find you.鈥�
Building trust and clever solutions
Building trust off the back of strong relationships is something Brown takes very seriously, especially as her role requires that she navigate two worlds. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got Aboriginal cultural priorities, and then you鈥檝e got clinical governance 鈥� 鈥榃hite Fella鈥� standards. It鈥檚 incredibly complex.鈥�
Brown works closely with Purple House鈥檚 board, which consists of 11 Indigenous directors who represent communities across the Western Desert. Most of the directors are women, and all of them are either dialysis patients or have family members impacted by renal disease. 鈥淭here is trust on both sides and we鈥檙e very careful with that trust,鈥� she said.
And while Brown acknowledges that she will never be a 鈥榗orporate type鈥�, she says that this doesn鈥檛 mean that Purple House can鈥檛 be agile and clever. Indeed, there are many logistical challenges that accompany running a remote location health organisation that require clever solutions 鈥� and a great deal of planning.
鈥淲hat happens if you鈥檝e got a dialysis unit with one nurse who gets crook and you鈥檝e got six patients out there? You have to be really good at planning A to F on any one day,鈥� Brown said.
Being clever also means knowing when to say 鈥榥o鈥�, to avoid stretching resources too thinly. Brown is regularly approached by communities from across the country, seeking help with setting up dialysis units. 鈥淲e have to be really clever not to get buggered by our own success, stretch ourselves too far and put ourselves at risk. No-one can afford for us to get too big for our boots and fall on our faces,鈥� she said.
Approaching a milestone
Brown loves her work at Purple House so much that she finds it difficult to take annual leave. 鈥淚 have an extreme fear of missing out. We have so much fun here, I can鈥檛 imagine going on holidays!鈥� she said.
As the organisation approaches its 20th anniversary since its foundation, Brown imagines that she and the House will grow old together. But she is conscious of not overstaying her welcome, jokingly asking the team to check her 鈥榖est before date鈥�.
鈥淵ou will tell me if I鈥檝e expired and you want to get a new one,鈥� she tells them laughingly. They just laugh with her and follow their unconventional CEO onto the next challenge.
|
Holding a health conference or retreat in Alice Springs? Invite Sarah Brown to talk about Purple House鈥檚 inspirational work. For more information, visit .
This interview with Sarah Brown was made possible thanks to the . for more information on conducting your conference in the Northern Territory.
Medical logistics provider gains on-brand hi-vis workwear
An Australian uniform provider has created a custom-designed red hi-vis range for a medical...
Rapid healthcare IT deployment helps private hospital open
A new Melbourne private hospital opened this month after implementing its core patient...
Budget: AMA welcomes investment but calls for system reform
In a post-Budget 2025–26 statement, the Australian Medical Association welcomed investment,...
