DV victims total 101 in hospital this year
AN ALARMING number of Cairns women are having to be treated in hospital after suffering domestic violence.
Cairns heath service statistics reveal that 101 people were treated in hospital for injuries from domestic and family violence in just the first three months of this year, 81 of which were women.
Last year there were 285 DV-related assaults treated across the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital Health Service (CHHHS) in total, which is down from the 304 in 2015. There were 250 in 2014. May is Domestic and Family Violence month.
One Cairns woman, known as Susan to protect her identity, spent seven years in a domestic violence relationship with her first husband.
“It’s easier to stay than to leave,” she said.
“You have family and friends around you trying to get you to leave, and you can see that you have to leave, but it’s you that has to be strong and it takes something for you to break in the end.
“And it gets harder the longer you’re in that relationship.”
She first noted her husband’s jealousy and keeping track of everything she did and who she was with, which led to him stalking her.
There was also constant verbal abuse.
“Every 10th word was the fword, he would degrade me … that was just normal standard speech,” she said.
Neighbours heard the constant yelling.
“This one time he did push me,” she said.
The next man she decided to trust, who had been a family friend, began exercising control over Susan’s daughter. Not willing to stick around, she left after three months.
“He was just too controlling … and I knew, especially after my first husband,” she said.
It took Susan, now in her 50s, 12 months of counselling before she could walk in the street with her head held high rather than facing the ground.
CHHHS chief executive Clare Douglas said injuries from domestic violence treated at the service’s hospitals included head injuries and facial fractures, dislocation of limbs, broken bones, internal injuries, bruising, scalding, sexual assault, poisoning, depression and anxiety.
“Often a woman is admitted for another health reason and DFV is then identified ...,”Ms Douglas said.
“As part of our training to clinical staff, they are provided with a variety of pathways for patients needing support. Recent changes require mandatory reporting of strangulation or choking injuries.”
Each month DVConnect Womensline takes more than 4000 calls — 9 per cent are from Far North Queensland.