Employee Stories
Every employee has a story. At the RFDS we like to think ours are a bit beyond the 'day to day". Select a story:
Lisa Smith
Alison Blundell
Captain Otto Peters
Justine Powell
Dr. M. C.
Captain Robert Lee
An RFDS Doctor
Lisa Smith
Flight Nurse - Clinical, Cairns Base
My job as a Flight Nurse with the RFDS has fulfilled my career ambitions. The RFDS has given me the opportunity to work at several bases facilitating me seeing vast amounts of Queensland. So much has happened in the six years I have been with RFDS. I have just taken on the Child and Family Health Portfolio for the Cairns Base and I can’t wait to see what this new role will bring.
Alison Blundell
Dentist
It's hard to know where to begin in describing how this job is better than other dentist jobs. This job is so unique, it's fantastic.
It can be challenging at times due to unusual "clinic" settings - on a recent bush clinic I set up my first surgery in the morning in a bedroom then in the afternoon at another station in the sun lounge - nice! My favourite to date was setting up all our portable gear on a verandah at Innamincka Station last year, outdoor dentistry! No two days are ever the same, whether it's a flying day, a town day at one of our clinics in Broken Hill, or a drive clinic to Menindee. I always look forward to coming to work each and every day since I started this job with the RFDS. I'm sure I'd not always be so enthusiastic if I was back in a typical 9 - 5 town practice type job like I've done in the past.
As I said before it can be challenging but it is very rewarding. The patients are so appreciative of the care we provide, especially in the bush. Often patients have travelled a long way to see us and when Lyn or I are able to provide the required treatment, for example extracting a painful tooth, they are just so grateful. If we weren't around they would have faced prolonged pain and of course a much much further journey to access dental care. Working with the RFDS is great, the job itself, although very demanding at times, is very rewarding. There is a great team spirit at the RFDS and it is beneficial working so closely with other health professionals.
Captain Otto Peters
Pilot – South Eastern
I joined the service (in November 2007) because I enjoy the flying and working in a team, which is so different from anything else I have ever done. They say that you can't change the world, but you can change the world around you. I think my job with the RFDS allows me to be able to make life in the bush a safer and happier place to be. With the RFDS on hand, nowhere in Australia is remote anymore when it comes to medical help!
The medical side is actually very interesting and it is a challenge to make sure the doctor and flight nurse can achieve their specific goals whilst still achieving mine and carrying out a safe flight at the end of the day.
When we were at a property recently with no lighting at the end of the day, I had to keep the doctor informed as the sun went down as to how long we had before we needed to take off. It was difficult for them when they had hours of work to complete in 20 minutes of remaining daylight. So we needed to load the aeroplane and depart before sunset and then the medical crew completed their work when we were airborne. We then spent the entire flight dodging thunderstorms all the way to Adelaide. A long day indeed!
My best patient was a little baby boy that was born on my first landing at Broken Hill! At 2:30 in the morning as I taxied on the runway, I heard the flight nurse calling out, "Push! Push!"
The hardest thing can be watching the sun set and then 10-12 hours later rise on the same shift. Heading home tired in the morning after being up all night with the warm sun in your face can be challenging.
The variety is terrific - one day flying a sick patient into Adelaide, the next day flying a clinic around small communities, and the next day doing a medical one urgent emergency retrieval into a remote station that you have never heard of. After almost a year and a half, the job remains very exciting!
Before I worked for the RFDS I spent five years instructing, charter flying, night freight, and even a little corporate flying. Part of this time instructing was teaching airline pilot cadets for China Southern Airlines. Some of these cadets hadn't operated anything more sophisticated than a bicycle! It was a great experience learning Chinese culture whilst teaching them flying!
If I could change one thing about work it would be no more night shifts. But then I would miss out on moon rises, sun rises, shooting stars, black nights out the back of beyond, and some of the most interesting jobs we do are also at night! So on second thoughts.....
When I'm not working, I enjoy gardening, music, cooking (preferably with a decent glass of red in my hand) and photography is a lot of fun in the outback too! I enjoy classic cars and playing with my old BMW on my days off.
A perfect Sunday morning is a day off with my wife having a good coffee and breakfast in our backyard out in the sun reading the Sydney Morning Herald.
Justine Powell
Nurse Manager - Clinical, Brisbane Base
It is difficult to say what it is I enjoy most about working for the RFDS as I could go on and on. I have enormous job satisfaction which comes from great teamwork among nursing, medical and aviation. I also have a great deal of professional autonomy which is important to me. I love the diversity of the job and the fantastic landscapes that I encounter. I think I am lucky, as a “Pom” I have been to many places in Queensland that many Australians have never heard of or even been to. If you love nursing, want to get out of the hospital system, enjoy travelling, respond well to ever-changing situations and can make a good cup of tea then this is the job for you.
Dr. M. C.
Mount Isa Base
"It is great working as a team to deliver optimal patient care. The doctor, nurse and pilot all work together for the benefit of the patient and to me that is most satisfying."
"Your working 'office' is the beautifully rugged and raw Australian Outback viewed from 8000 feet. The Service looks after its personnel well and having come from private rural general practice, I can say that I am happier at work with the RFDS and developing professionally as a doctor and personally as I discover more about the land and people of rural Australia.
Captain Robert Lee
Kalgoorlie Base
"We'll just call it Chooka…"
On Friday 11th September 1998 I was duty pilot for the day at our Kalgoorlie Base, Western Australia. The day began normally enough with a Priority Three patient in Kalgoorlie awaiting transfer to Perth. The flight had been scheduled for a 0845 departure. During preparation for this flight, Flight Nurse Felicity Tyrrell and myself had a call from the Communication Coordinators informing us of a motor vehicle accident on the Laverton – Warburton Road and the possibility of an evacuation from the crash scene. Ten minutes later we were informed of the necessity of a mercy flight, which would involve a road landing. Due to the lack of a dedicated airstrip in the vicinity the road was deemed the most suitable ground, but it did not meet the specifications for an airstrip hence the nomination of a mercy flight which is a fairly rare occurrence.
Prior to departure I had a telephone discussion with our Chief Pilot, Captain Dick Tippett, about the "airstrip" dimensions and what to expect - a narrow road with mulga along the edges. The managers of the local roadhouse were improving the "strip" by removing any standing timber that was infringing on the road/strip, in preparation for our arrival.
We loaded the Aircraft EGQ with all the necessary medical equipment, then Felicity, Dr. Geoff Day and I boarded the aircraft and departed.
When we arrived overhead we could see this big bloke wielding a chainsaw. He was clearing the last of the close timber. I made a strip inspection, which involved a low-level fly past in the landing configuration to confirm that the proposed strip was safe. There was an eight to ten knot cross wind, to add to the pucker factor on final approach, which was ascertained from a fire that had been lit just adjacent to the "airstrip" as a wind indicator. I rolled out on final approach, selected my landing point, and managed to pull off one of the smoothest landings I have done in a while. I even got applause from my two passengers. Having safely delivered the doctor and nurse they set about the business of medicine.
Two hours later we were ready to depart. The patient was loaded. We fired up and taxied to the opposite end of the strip, even going around a bit of a bend for the initial part of the takeoff roll. A final check to make sure everyone was secure and then we were on our way. A smooth rotation, a waggle of the wings goodbye and off to Perth with our patient in good hands. Another successful ‘sortie' for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
"Story of an Evacuation" by an RFDS Doctor
Outback Queensland
It was a quiet Monday morning in the office - what a statement! The billy was being boiled for smoko when the telephone rang. A stockman from a station out on the Diamantina was mustering on his horse in the Diamantina Channels when the horse tripped and fell and rolled on the stockman. As it got up, it kicked him in the back. The man was instantly paralysed. Fortunately on that occasion there was another ringer with him and he was able to summons help.
A vehicle with a HF Radio in it was despatched to the scene who then reported back to the station the stockman's condition and the station staff then contacted me. Communicating directly with the people at the scene by HF Radio in the vehicle, I made a mental assessment of his condition. My orders were to leave him absolutely as they found him and not move anything. Provide some shade for him and keep him 'nil by mouth'. Pain relief was offered by injection which is always an emotive issue in those not trained to give injections. However, I was able to talk them through it again with the aid of HF Radio.
Our team was summoned and we departed Charleville for the station. On arrival out there we off loaded the necessary emergency equipment from our aeroplane into the station ute and drove to the homestead to take stock of the situation. We were told that the location of the accident was some two and a half hours driving away from the homestead over very rough Diamantina Channels. Fortunately a small two seater mustering helicopter caught my eye, but I was told there was no room for any equipment in the helicopter. Helen agreed to come on out to the scene in the ute with the equipment on board whilst I took a handful of diagnostic equipment in the helicopter and flew more rapidly out to the scene with a view to having the patient assessed by the time the ute arrived.
When I finally arrived at the scene I was able to assess him and plan a course of action appropriately, working with only the content of one small bag. We had a 49 year old man with quadriplegia, unable to move any limbs at all because of his spinal injury. At that stage there was nothing I could do except wait until the utility arrived with our equipment in it some two and a bit hours later.
On arrival of the equipment, working in the heat, the dust and the flies we transferred the patient, very gently from the ground onto the spinal mattress. The trip over the Diamantina channels back to the station obviously took a lot longer than the outward trip for fear of causing further damage to his spine. Back at the station various tubes, pipes, masks and bags were placed appropriately and massive doses of the appropriate steroid were given intravenously. Contact was then made with the spinal injuries unit of a major Brisbane Hospital, who agreed to accept him and he was loaded on board the aircraft with the remainder of our equipment and we took off firstly for Charleville to refuel and then on to Brisbane.
Last light had overtaken us even before we had left the station, and it was approaching midnight by the time we landed in Brisbane. We were met at Brisbane airport by an ambulance for the next leg of our trip to the hospital.
This man is now back in full time employment on the station and the comments I got from the specialists in Brisbane were that his recovery was as much as anything else due to the fact that he had the early intervention with the drugs, and also because of the mode of movement and transport.
I believe the RFDS provided a service to this injured stockman that no other organsiation in the world could have offered given the treatment he required so quickly in such an isolated area.
The whole procedure had taken about fourteen hours but the final result proved worthwhile.