Ngemba and Wiradjuri Doctor Khyarne Biles says it's distressing what she's seeing from the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis in western NSW.
Dr Biles recently posted a photo introducing her colleagues on the frontline of the crisis: "I will be be the one who starts chest compressions", and "Unfortunately, I will be the one who has to tell your family you have died."
She makes no apology for the grim words.
"The message is simple and it's really clear - COVID is real, it's here and it's spreading through our community quite quickly," Dr Biles told NITV's The Point.
"We need to do everything we can to try and flatten that curve and really try and stop the rise in the numbers."
Case numbers in west and far western NSW have topped 300, with more than a dozen in hospital.
Dubbo Emergency Doctor Khyane Biles with her colleagues - with a grim warning to the community. Source: Supplied
Dr Biles says her department, and the hospital is being filled with COVID patients.
"It's quite scary at the moment. What we're seeing is the numbers each day are obviously on the incline, which means that more people are getting sick," she says.
"What we are finding is that our department and hospital is essentially being filled out with COVID patients.
"It's quite distressing for the patient, it's quite distressing for the staff."
She explains what happens when COVID-positive patients come into the hospital.
"They've got to go into an isolation room. That means that they're in there alone. They're not allowed to have family to support them."
Dr Biles says she fears what might happen if the virus spreads further into remote area, and urged people to stay at home.
The regional city of Dubbo has the biggest number of confirmed COVID cases in western NSW. Source: NSW Health
"We've all got ties to communities out far west, the likes of Lightning Ridge, Brewarrina and Coonamble," she says.
"It's really scary to think what it's doing to a place like Dubbo, and you don't want to imagine what it could do to a place that's out far west, with very little access to health care.
"The point of the messages were really to let people know that this is real, you know, we're here.
"We've got faces, we've got families and we just wanted to give you an insight into our world, because sometimes it's not pretty.
"We ideally would like to keep our friends and family and the wider community at home, and safe."
* Catch more of this story on NITV's flagship current affairs program The Point tonight on NITV at 7.30pm, or later on SBS or SBS on Demand.
