Your Flying Doctor | Spring 2024 Edition

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To our wonderful supporters

I hope 2024 has been a great year so far for you and your family.

Here at the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Western Australia (RFDS), we have officially launched our new five-year strategy, Above & Beyond. A major focus of our strategy is expanding primary health care in the regions and providing more GP and dental clinics to improve the wellbeing of regional Western Australians. On page 12, you can read about Dr Vince Figliomeni, an RFDS dentist who finds great satisfaction in making a real difference in the lives of those who live remotely.

RFDS recently signed a new 10-year contract with the state government to ensure our services continue. As WA’s primary aeromedical service, we are committed to being there wherever and whenever patients in the regions need us. This certainty sets RFDS up for a bright future as we head towards our centenary in 2028.

You may have seen RFDS in the news recently when our aircraft landed twice on the Eyre Highway at Eucla to retrieve patients. While our skilled pilots train for these emergency road landings they are rarely necessary, so for it to have occurred twice within a week was very unusual. To make these landings happen, our crews require assistance from the WA Country Health Service (WACHS) nurse at Eucla, WA Police and Main Roads. It’s an excellent example of the partnerships we have with service providers all around the state who help RFDS crews do what we do, no matter the distance.

People like you play a major part in supporting the RFDS and we thank you for your ongoing interest in the work we do. I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Your Flying Doctor magazine.

Yours sincerely

pictured with

A first for the RFDS

The RFDS has retrieved patients from almost every corner of the 2.5 million square kilometres of Western Australia. In May, a crew carried out the first RFDS helicopter transfer from a remote fishing community on the Abrolhos Islands, 60km west of Geraldton.

While spraying down a crayfishing boat on Big Rat Island, Justin Small suffered a seizure. A mate found him slumped over the boat, his face blue. Contractors from the Department of Fisheries who were working nearby managed to lift the 37-year-old onto a quad bike and rush him to the local nursing post.

Justin was cared for overnight by WA Country Health Service nurse Andrea, who was supported by an RFDS doctor via Telehealth. The plan was to transfer Justin by RFDS in daylight hours the next day. Justin’s condition had improved by the next day, but he still had an extremely irregular and elevated heartbeat.

“Andrea was wonderful, staying up with me the whole night, keeping me positive,” said Justin.

The RFDS Fortescue Heli-Med Service helicopter is mostly used for retrievals within a 250km radius of Perth. In this instance it flew a longer distance to Geraldton to refuel and then onto Big Rat Island. A fixed-wing RFDS aircraft is unable to land on the Abrolhos Islands because the current airstrip isn’t long enough.

Fortunately for Justin, just weeks prior to his seizure, the RFDS had carried out a feasibility mission to Big Rat Island. A team made up of pilots, a doctor and a logistics specialist had assessed the island’s airstrip conditions,

clinical requirements and options for helicopter flight routes and refueling. When the call came that someone needed to be transferred, RFDS already knew what was required.

To retrieve Justin, Pilot James Gillespie landed the helicopter on the island’s rocky limestone terrain and Dr Michael Robbins and Retrieval Nurse Cat Hanley helped transfer him to Geraldton Health Campus.

The crew were absolutely incredible and so caring. They calmed me down and reassured me I was safe.

Justin has spent many years on the Abrolhos Islands and from his stretcher on the flight to Geraldton, he pointed out landmarks to the crew who were seeing the unique and beautiful landscape for the first time.

Operation Mitchell Plateau

It was a team effort when the RFDS was called to retrieve a woman who broke her leg hiking in one of WA’s most hard-to-reach locations.

It started with a frantic satellite phone call from the bush. A distressed woman contacted the RFDS to say she was part of a group who’d set off from the Mitchell Plateau in the Kimberley, planning to hike to the spectacular Mitchell Falls. Another woman in the group had slipped into a deep crevice between boulders, breaking her lower leg.

Reaching her was not going to be easy. The accident happened about a two-day walk from the closest airstrip, and the location was inaccessible by road or boat.

It was established that the hiker had a “tib-fib” fracture, where both bones in the lower leg are broken; a serious injury that needs prompt medical attention.

“These types of breaks are very painful and need to be splinted quite quickly to ensure good

blood supply to be able to save the leg,” said Dr Michael Leith, who took the satellite phone call from the RFDS Broome base.

A crew made up of Dr Michael, Retrieval Nurse Cassie Gaff and Pilot Bryn James flew to the Mitchell Plateau, landing on a dirt airstrip. They piled into a tourism helicopter that had room to fit a stretcher and set out to find the injured woman. Spotting the

group of hikers in the rugged landscape felt like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

“We were flying around and had to land every half hour to call her on the satellite phone because it was too loud on the helicopter to hear anything,” said Dr Michael. “The hikers tried to give us directions and co-ordinates, but unfortunately what they gave us wasn’t quite right.”

The group put up large yellow tarps to increase their visibility. Other helicopter pilots in the area were told to keep an eye out for them. The hikers were finally spotted perched on the side of a cliff.

The next challenge was finding a safe place to land the helicopter. It needed to be on the same side of the Mitchell River as the patient – the RFDS crew didn’t fancy a river-crossing in croc-infested waters. The closest place to land was about a kilometre from the patient – and the terrain was so treacherous it took an hour to reach her on foot.

When they reached the makeshift tarpaulin tent, the hiker was in a lot of pain. Her pulse was faint and Dr Michael was concerned about a drop in blood supply to the lower part of her leg.

“Cassie and I got to work putting in intravenous lines and giving her pain relief, trying to keep her comfortable while we put her into traction and straightened her leg out,” he said. “In a hospital, patients would usually be sedated for that but that wasn’t possible in this setting and this lady was very stoic.”

Now faced with moving the injured woman to the helicopter, Dr Michael was assisted by his colleague Bryn, the helicopter pilot and others from the hiking group to carry the woman on a stretcher, up and down over boulders and through long, snake-infested grass.

I could see the patient breathe a sigh of relief once we were in the air.

“We even got a nice scenic flight past Mitchell Falls on the way out which she really appreciated because she hadn’t made it to the waterfall on her walk,” said Dr Michael.

The woman was flown to Broome on the PC-12 aircraft and from there to hospital in Perth on the Rio Tinto PC-24 jet, where she underwent surgery.

The dramatic turn of events hasn’t turned the woman off hiking and she’s apparently eager to complete her Mitchell Falls adventure in the future.

Scan QR code to see video of

Bigger and better than ever, our fourth annual Flying Doctor Day appeal raised an incredible $1,238,036 for RFDS WA!

On behalf of all of us at the RFDS in WA, thank you for your generous donations. Funds raised will purchase essential medical equipment and supplies for our fleet of aircraft.

MATCHED GIVING PARTNERS

Harken Family Trust

BONUS ROUND PARTNERS

RFDS WA Board Member Sam Walsh AO and Leanne Walsh, RFDS WA Board Member Joanne Farrell, Penrose Pastoral, Private Family Foundation, Regis Resources, Supporters of the RFDS

The Galloway family shared their RFDS story
CEO Judith Barker and Community Relations team members
Optus Stadium lit up red and blue
ABC’s Mark Gibson interviewed Senior Engineer Mike Chadwick
The Hon. Jackie Jarvis MLC in her Flying Doctor Day socks

Country & Westynn

Karratha mum Tui Magner was excited to welcome her first son after having three beautiful daughters. But once her newborn was in her arms, Tui quickly realised little Westynn was not well.

“He didn’t cry, he didn’t move and he looked pale and very sluggish,” Tui recalls.

Following his neo-natal check, midwives at Karratha Health Campus told Tui that the next morning Westynn would need to be flown more than 1,500km by the RFDS to Perth’s King Edward Memorial Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) accompanied by a doctor and nurse from the Newborn Emergency Transport Service team.

Before he could be transferred, Westynn required a blood transfusion. He had lost a third of his blood while in utero, causing acute anaemia. Doctors are unsure whether the blood loss happened gradually during Tui’s pregnancy or in the birth process.

The blood transfusion rapidly improved Westynn’s condition. With his mum and dad Manunui by his side, he spent a week growing stronger in the NICU ward and was able to return to Karratha on a six-week course of iron and folic acid to help his tiny body produce more red blood cells.

Tui, Manunui and their three daughters travel across WA competing in rodeo events with their horses and now Westynn has

joined them on the road. Tui is so grateful for the part RFDS played in transporting her son to the care he needed and she is using rodeos to fundraise, with competitors “fined” $50 every time their hat flies off during their ride.

Everyone

Pharmacy in a box

For those who live, travel or work remotely, an RFDS medical chest can be a lifeline.

There are more than 600 medical chests dotted at remote locations across WA including homesteads, pastoral stations, roadhouses, national parks and mine sites.

A medical chest is a lockable steel box containing a wide range of medicines which enables access to emergency and nonemergency treatment. An RFDS doctor consults with the patient or carer via telehealth and prescribes appropriate medication from the on-site chest, preventing them from potentially having to drive hundreds of kilometres to the nearest town.

RFDS Dr Hakan Yaman has been the telehealth consultant for countless patients needing access to a medical chest for a wide range of conditions including allergic reactions or prescription painkillers following a severe injury.

The Perth-based doctor never expected his own family would need access to a medical chest.

Dr Hakan, his wife Sally and sons Alby, Orson and Artie were among three families travelling together on the Gibb River Road in WA’s north when the unthinkable happened. The group was cooking dinner at the Mitchell Falls campsite when a piercing scream rang out in the darkness.

Artie had fallen backwards into the campfire.

“We didn’t know where his burns were or how serious it was but we found a bucket of water and shoved him in it,” Dr Hakan recalls.

Artie was very lucky – he had suffered burns to his back and arm, and it didn’t require a skin graft or require retrieval by the RFDS. If he had fallen face first, it would have been a life-changing event.

The group was able to continue on their Kimberley adventure. Artie’s burns required analgesia and a change of dressings every few days, so the family dropped into three different locations with a medical chest as they continued to make their way north.

Knowing that access to medical chests was available was amazing for us and it was great talking to the custodians. They were so proud to be the ones providing help if people need it.

To apply to become a Medical Chest Custodian call 08 9417 6300 or email medicalchests@rfdswa.com.au

SCAN TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MEDICAL CHESTS

Shared history

It’s a true legend of the bush that inspired the Reverend John Flynn’s vision to create what eventually became the Royal Flying Doctor Service. In July 1917, Kimberley stockman Jimmy Darcy suffered severe internal injuries when his horse fell in a cattle stampede, crushing Jimmy. He was placed in a cart for a 12-hour ride over rough tracks to Halls Creek.

Sadly, there was no doctor to help. Local postmaster Fred Tuckett had a first aid certificate so he performed emergency surgery armed with only an ivory-handled pocket knife and morphine, guided by instructions via morse code from Dr Joe Holland, thousands of kilometres away in Perth.

Incredibly, the no-frills surgery was a success, but Jimmy needed further medical attention, so

Dr Holland set off on a mercy mission. He boarded a cattle ship which took an agonising week to reach Derby and then spent six days bumping across the Kimberley in a Model T Ford held together by leather straps.

The car broke down 40 kilometres from Halls Creek. Dr Holland made the final leg on horseback at night, arriving at dawn to hear the devastating news that Jimmy had died hours earlier from malaria.

The three men at the centre of that history-making event – Jimmy, the postmaster Fred Tuckett and Dr Holland - could never have imagined that over 100 years later, their ancestors would gather at the Royal Flying Doctor Service WA’s headquarters.

Jimmy Darcy’s niece Jill Campbell, Dr Holland’s granddaughter Julia Geaney and Fred Tuckett’s granddaughter Ann Watts met for the first time in person at the RFDS base in Jandakot.

“It was a real ‘pinch me’ moment,” said Julia. It was like a hand from heaven reaching down to connect the generations.

Julia had connected with Jill and Ann online only weeks before, piecing together their shared history through blogs and old letters. At the age of 81, Jill lives at Kybo Station on the Trans-Australian Railway Line east of Rawlinna, so the trio took the chance to meet when she was visiting Perth for medical appointments.

All three women grew up with a strong sense of their family’s connection to the famous story.

“I was so surprised to get the chance to meet Julia and Ann,” said Jill. “We had really only just got in touch so it was incredibly special to meet in person.”

(L-R): RFDS Community Engagement Coordinator Larr Rose, Ann Watts, Jill Campbell, Julia Geaney, Julia’s granddaughter Kate Abbott and Julia’s partner Keith Hicks at the RFDS Jandakot base.

Inset: Stockman Jimmy Darcy.

Higher perspective

When a dirtbike crash left Jaimen Hudson a quadriplegic at the age of 17, he vowed that it wouldn’t stop him from living a life of purpose and adventure. He adopted the mantra “never waste a day.”

Sixteen years on, Jaimen is married with two children and owns three tourism businesses in Esperance. While that sounds busy enough, the videos and photos that Jaimen takes with his drone camera of the stunning local landscapes and wildlife have attracted more than 250 million views online. With partial use of his arms, Jaimen drives his modified vehicle along the Esperance coastline and uses his drone to capture playful dolphins or breaching whales from the beach.

“There is an element of luck, but I also search like no one’s business,” said Jaimen. “Every now and then you get a really unique moment - whales and dolphins playing together or a dolphin jumping over a rainbow – and those moments keep you addicted.”

One afternoon in April, Jaimen was heading to the beach when his 4WD wheelchair hit a boggy patch of sand, flipping it onto steep gravel. He fell out of his wheelchair – and was unbelievably unlucky to break his neck for the second time.

Just like after his first accident, the RFDS retrieved Jaimen so he could undergo surgery in Perth.

“The crew were absolutely amazing and I remember a lot more of the flight this time,” said Jaimen. “The first time (with RFDS) was obviously very distressing, going from being able-bodied to not being able to move at all.”

In his recent accident, Jaimen’s neck was dislocated and broken in a different part to his original injury. He underwent a six-hour spinal surgery at Royal Perth Hospital, and it was a huge relief to him and his family that he’s retained the same level of function that he had before. Jaimen says he is extremely appreciative for the part RFDS played in transferring him to a tertiary hospital.

As someone who lives regionally, I feel grateful for the fact there’s this service available that costs us nothing and can get you to the medical attention that you require as soon as possible.

By winter, Jaimen was able to travel to New South Wales to experience the snow at Thredbo. He’s also been the subject of a documentary and travelled the world for photography jobs.

“I’ve done all sorts of crazy stuff that I never could have imagined all those years ago when I was lying in hospital,” said Jaimen. “I’m very lucky to lead an adventurous life thanks to droning.”

Jaimen was blown away by the support he received by his photography fans after his accident.

“I get followers from landlocked countries who have never seen the ocean who can’t believe that what I share is real,” he said. “When I had my most recent accident, I received the most incredible messages from all over the world and that’s the really amazing side of social media.”

The flying dentist

Dentist Vincenzo Figliomeni had been working in an on-call emergency role at Perth Children’s Hospital when he started to see a worrying trend: many patients that were flown in from remote areas of Western Australia had severe and multiple dental issues.

To better understand the lifestyle contributing to the lack of dental health, Dr Vince joined the RFDS as a casual dentist in 2020, while also running a private practice in Perth.

“My work with the RFDS has taken me across the state to places like Halls Creek, Wiluna, and Warburton in the Gibson Desert,” Dr Vince said.

Our vast state presents logistical and geographical hurdles that can significantly impact healthcare delivery. A trip to Warburton involves a flight on a small propeller plane from Perth to Kalgoorlie for refuelling, followed by another flight further inland. Stepping out into the intense desert heat and being swarmed by flies, underscores the unique challenges faced in remote regions.

One of the most pressing issues affecting dental health in remote communities is high sugar consumption.

“Cheap carbonated beverages exacerbate dental issues,” he said. He says a shortage of staff at schools and in health care to educate communities about the detrimental effects of sugary products means the situation doesn’t improve.

The gap in dental health status and accessibility to care between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations is evident. A 2020 report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare revealed

significantly higher treatment rates for end-stage kidney disease among Indigenous Australians, particularly in remote areas, which can be correlated to uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes and is reflective of the long-term effects of high sugar consumption.

In many remote communities, patients may wait months or even years for treatment, leading to prolonged suffering from dental issues like impacted wisdom teeth, decay and periodontal diseases.

Despite the challenges, Dr Vince says providing dental care in underserved communities is immensely fulfilling.

“Alleviating patients’ long-term dental pain and making a tangible difference in someone’s life is a rewarding aspect of this unique role,” he said. “It also offers a chance to explore the diverse landscapes and cultures of Australia.”

Dr Vince would like to see more dentists put their hand up to work casually with the RFDS.

By bridging the health care gap and experiencing the challenges and rewards of remote dentistry, we can make a meaningful difference.

Expanding primary health care services is a key priority for the RFDS WA as part of our new five-year strategy.

FIND OUT MORE HERE

Dr Vince Figliomeni, dental nurse Wendy Andrews and patient Tyeesa.

Meet Dr Deb Molloy

Dr Deb grew up in Ireland where she completed her medical training. Since moving to Australia in 2014, she has worked as a medical officer for the RFDS in New South Wales and Western Australia.

What prompted your move across the world to Australia?

I wanted to broaden my horizons and travel. A couple of Irish doctors I knew had already made the move to Australia and they were very encouraging. A recruitment drive to get Irish doctors to move to Australia was underway back in 2013 and once I made the decision to move, it was a straightforward process.

What appealed to you about joining the RFDS?

I grew up in Dublin within a two-minute walk of Ireland’s largest paediatric hospital. I spent much of my childhood outdoors playing sports and would often see helicopters land at the children’s hospital. This fascinated me and all my young friends. Sometimes play would stop completely to watch the helicopter come into land. Everyone would wonder what part of rural Ireland the child had come from and was it going to be for an organ transplant or was it a trauma case? In Perth I came across an ad for a job with the RFDS in Broken Hill.

It automatically appealed to me as the idea of aeromedical retrieval had always seemed adventurous and exciting.

What area of medicine do you specialise in?

I am a GP by trade and I also have advanced skills training in anaesthetics. My job at RFDS now includes covering the clinical role in the Regional Operations Centre and I enjoy combining my clinical skills with the logistical component of deploying planes and people to achieve the best outcome. I have many fantastic colleagues and the work is very team-oriented. People from all walks of life work for RFDS and it gives me a great sense of satisfaction to be part of something that is much bigger than myself. We operate 24/7 for 365 days of the year and no two days are the same.

What is the greatest challenge of being an RFDS doctor?

Sometimes we fly into remote settings to manage and transfer patients who have life or limbthreatening injuries. These cases rely on the team all contributing to get the best outcome for the patient. We do often rely on the support from people and farmers on the ground to make our retrieval successful and time efficient.

What is the most satisfying part of an RFDS retrieval?

Our patients and their families are genuinely, enormously grateful for our work and commitment. We are helping to provide care for rural and remote communities. We have sophisticated medical equipment and superb aircraft and pilots. Our jet has the capability to fly from Perth to Kununurra, which is further than the distance

between London and Moscow. It can be very rewarding to manage a patient who is critically unwell and get them safely to intensive care in Perth. I have such great respect for the pilots, flight nurses and paramedics I work alongside. Our pilots are incredibly skilled and fly solo at all times of day and night. Our flight nurses are trained to an exceptionally high skill level and their role contributes enormously to patient safety.

What is your involvement with the Australian Defence Force (ADF)?

I am a Reservist with the ADF and work as a part-time army doctor. The skills I learn in a military setting are complementary and transferable to my work with RFDS. Both roles involve giving back to the community and I feel it is a privilege to serve.

HEAR MORE FROM DR DEB

Humbling community support

Western Australians are very generous. We are so grateful for support from people across the state, from Kununurra to Esperance and everywhere in between. Here’s some highlights of the many individuals and organisations who continue to bring their community together to raise vital funds for the RFDS in WA.

Recycling for the RFDS

An incredible 1.6 million bottles and cans have been handed into Containers for Change to raise money for the RFDS –that’s over $160,000!

CBH grows support

RFDS WA is once again a recipient of CBH Group’s Harvest Mass Management Scheme. An $80,000 donation was raised through a CBH safety scheme, with growers nominating their preferred charities for support.

Former Pemberton potato farmer John Moltoni retired in Perth and collects used cans and bottles from nearby high-rise apartments to donate to RFDS WA. Farming

was tough on John’s body and the 83 year old has had both his ankles, his knees and one hip replaced. He doesn’t let limited mobility slow him down, collecting his cans on his motorised scooter with his French Bulldog Archie by his side.

“I was very lucky that in all my years farming I never needed the RFDS, but I know what an invaluable service it is for those who live in the regions,” he said. So far this year, John’s efforts have raised more than $1,000 for the Flying Doctor in WA.

If you’d like your containers to make a difference, the RFDS WA scheme ID is C10336670

Oceans to Outback strides on

Western Australians are encouraged to sign up for the third annual Oceans to Outback fitness challenge this October. Last year more than $3.5 million was raised for the RFDS nationally as participants across Australia cycled, ran or walked a total of 1,275,685 kilometres.

Laura’s Army is a WA team who raised an amazing $21,000 for the campaign. The team is made up of Laura McKennie and her family and friends. Laura was 21 when she was transferred by the RFDS following a near-fatal crash and had to learn to walk again. As a special show of thanks, Laura’s Army were invited for a tour of the Jandakot RFDS base.

REGISTER NOW oceanstooutback.org.au

Recipes from our family to yours

Ingredients

50g very soft butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 ½ cups self-raising flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1-2 tablespoons milk

80g dark chocolate, chopped (70% cocoa recommended)

50g pecans or walnuts, chopped

1 teaspoon cinnamon sugar (½ teaspoon of each, mixed)

Dark Chocolate and Banana Cake

Broome Senior Base Nurse Heather Cudmore calls this a

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C, grease a loaf tin and line with baking paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, then beat in the egg.

3. Stir in the mashed bananas, then add the flour, cinnamon and finally the milk.

4. Mix well and then stir though the chocolate.

5. Scrape the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle with chopped nuts.

6. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

7. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before lifting out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Support your Flying Doctor today

Donate

Donate by telephone (08) 9417 6400

Complete and return the RFDS donation slip

Acknowledgement of Country

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