When Bella needed urgent assistance for a serious knee injury, it was because you care that help arrived within the hour. Now recovering in Broken Hill with support from our dedicated mental health space, the Wellbeing Place, she’s looking to the future with hope.
Eighteen-year-old Bella was inspired to pursue an agricultural career, just like her dad, a livestock carrier. She was hard at work mustering on a remote station 100 kilometres from the opal mining town of White Cliffs when disaster struck.
“The goats were mobbed up well, but one large goat broke, so I went to get him on my motorbike. He stopped in front of me, so I stopped too. When I planted my foot on the ground, I heard a lot of snaps. It was oh, so painful,” she said.
At the station’s airstrip, Bella pleaded for a flight to hospital instead of a four-hour car ride. After a 30-minute flight accompanied by Flight Nurse Eddie, “the sweetest nurse I’ve ever had,” she was transferred to Broken Hill hospital.
An MRI in Adelaide the next day revealed tears in all knee ligaments and a long recovery ahead. Compassionate support from the Wellbeing Place has also helped Bella feel encouraged and positive on her rehabilitation journey.
“We always knew if something happened to dad, we’d need the RFDS. Now it’s me who has had an emergency retrieval, and I also get support at the Wellbeing Place at Broken Hill. The RFDS is so important… I don’t think I’d be where I am now if it weren’t for this organisation,” Bella said.
You bring critical healthcare and reassurance to people like Bella in outback communities, whenever they need it. Thank you.
