FEATURE: Flying high

One of the Australian outback's greatest icons, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, staged a series of regional charity events to mark its 81st anniversary.

PHOTO

The Royal Flying Doctors Service flies into parts of rural and remote Australia to provide emergency medical services and education on preventative healthcare. [Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia]

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Australia's Royal Flying Doctor service marks its 81st anniversary

Created: 15/05/2009

Nidhi Dutt

Last Updated: Fri, 15 May 2009 16:07:00 +1000

On 15 May 1928 the Aerial Medical Service took off on its first flight from Cloncurry in Queensland Australia.

What was to be a one-year experiment is now an 81-year old national institution.

From indigenous communities and out-stations to remote mining sites and lighthouses, the Flying Doctors are the first point of contact for anyone involved in a medical emergency.

The organisation now spans Australia providing a range of healthcare programs.

Maria Raymond has been running cattle on Pinnacle Station in Far North Queensland for more than 40 years.

For her, seeing a doctor meant travelling hundreds of kilometres and using anything with an engine to get there.

"I was expecting Robert and we didn't have anything there at that stage so we used to go - I went in once on the back of a tractor," she said.

"Bill built a little seat sort of thing in the back of the tractor and I was heavily pregnant and we went into Laura to see the doctor there because that was our nearest - we didn't have a strip so that was the nearest thing so that took, I suppose, with a round trip about three days sitting on the back of a tractor."

Things have come a long way since then.

Today, the Royal Flying Doctors Service flies into parts of rural and remote Australia many would only dream of.

Medical officer, Dean Taylor, explains there are several challenges involved in providing world-class health care without the facilities of the big smoke.

"The realities are that distances are vast and providing - you can't have an interventional cardiology unit out the front here which you can have at the Royal Brisbane Hospital."

Life-saving lessons

The Royal Flying Doctors don't just provide emergency response services they are also educators and facilitors of preventative healthcare.

It does not sound complicated, but what the doctor teaches may save lives tomorrow.

Mechanic and cattle farm owner, David Woodside, says this information is particularly handy during the wet season when the region's roads are largely under water.

"We're cut off here for, well, usually about three months, not totally but as the creeks go up and down," he said.

"Not only just in our vicinity but you've got to realise that we've got to get over every other creek to get to town."

The Royal Flying Doctors run medical clinics twice a year in Pinnacle, northern Queensland, to keep the health of babies and adults alike in check.

When there isn't one around, the most important things for people living here is the Government-sponsored medical chest.

There are 3,500 of them in remote locations across Australia, and consist of emergency drugs, injections and bandages.

Such medical chests are useful for anyone involved in a medical emergency.

"You make a phone call, everything's numbered in there, the doctor says there's a number on a certain shelf, you grab that and you administer so much," said cattle farm owner David Woodside.

"So you don't have to be medically trained, you just follow their instructions."

In a remote community like Pinnacle, a one-hour session to run through the basics can mean the difference between life and death.