News

Chief Exec RFDS Emma Buchanan receiving award from Cathy Johnson from Readers Digest

Reader's Digest Most Trusted Brand Charity 2025 announced

13 Jun 2025

The Royal Flying Doctor Service is humbled to have been announced, for the 5th consecutive year, as Australia’s ‘Most Trusted’ charity brand in the Readers Digest Trusted Brands Australia 2025.

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19 Mar 2024

Clinical Leader of the Year

RFDS WA Head of Nursing Paul Ingram has been named Clinical Leader of the Year at the WA Rural Health Awards.

Paul with colleagues at the awards night.
19 Mar 2024

The Flying Nurse

Lisa Killian is an RFDS Primary Health Care Nurse based in Broome. She has lived in the Kimberley and central Australia for the past 14 years, working in a variety of nursing roles.

Nurse Lisa smiling at a baby in the clinic.
18 Mar 2024

#82 Melissa's muscles melted and she was unable to walk, talk or move

Melissa Domiati went to hospital to have her wisdom teeth removed and was not particularly concerned or worried, but the routine procedure went terribly wrong when she had an allergic reaction to the anaesthetic. She woke up two days later, in Perth, in ICU and unable to move.

Melissa Book
14 Mar 2024

Meet Dan Byles

Dan Byles has been the Organisational Resilience Lead for the RFDS WA since 2021.

Dan smiling with a PC-12 in the background.
14 Mar 2024

#81 Dan Hamood was opal fossicking when he fell into a mineshaft

Dan, an opal miner, shares his passion for opal mining and the unique gemstones that captivated him. His hobby turned into a life-threatening situation when he fell down a 22-meter deep mine shaft in Coober Pedy.

Dan in Opal Mining Location in SA
12 Mar 2024

Trains, planes and the RFDS

Doctor Jig is accustomed to working inside the tight space of an RFDS aircraft, but one retrieval saw him treating an unwell passenger within the confines of the iconic Indian Pacific train.

Dr Jig smiling in front of a PC-12.
10 Mar 2024

Meet the Flying Doctor's female pilots

To mark Women in Aviation Worldwide Week, we reached out to our female pilots to ask them what their job means to them. Here’s what they said...

Meet the Flying Doctor's female pilots
08 Mar 2024

Road to recovery - Bella's story

Bella Howe’s life changed on a wild winter’s day in July 2022. She was a spectator at a dirt bike race in the Wheatbelt town of Brookton when a rider lost control on a jump.

Bella smiling next to a horse
26 Feb 2024

RFDS Victoria Gender Pay Gap Report 2022-23

At RFDS Victoria, our greatest asset is our people. We put people first in everything we do, developing strategies and frameworks to enable individuals to grow, succeed and contribute positively to better health and wellbeing outcomes for the communities we serve.

An RFDS employee speaks with a client
21 Feb 2024

RFDS Scholarships Impact

‘A rewarding and life-changing experience’ is how one of our Scholarship recipients described her time with RFDS providing medical services in remote areas.

Scholarship
21 Feb 2024

Sandy overcame a life-changing injury but that was only the beginning of the battle

Traumatic injuries can have long-lasting effects and for Ti Tree resident Sandy Abley, the Flying Doctor was there to support her full journey to physical and emotional recovery.

Sandy's story
21 Feb 2024

A dry needle in the haystack: Meet our first Flying Physio

Armed with a portable treatment table and a backpack containing everything you’d find in a city clinic, the RFDS’s newest health professional is making tracks in the bush.

RFDS Physiotherapist
20 Feb 2024

A student placement with the RFDS led to Mick landing his dream job

Having grown up in the suburbs of Melbourne, working as a mental health clinician in the Central Desert of Australia is a whole new world for Mick Keane.

RFDS mental health clinician Mick Keane
19 Feb 2024

QUIZ: How well do you know the RFDS?

How well do you know the RFDS? Test your general knowledge of the Flying Doctor with this quick-fire 10-question quiz!

RFDS quiz
08 Feb 2024

The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Western Australia records busiest year

The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Western Australian has recorded its busiest year on record, with 10,270 patients retrieved across the state throughout 2023.

RFDS Doctor in an aircraft