7 truly amazing things the Royal Flying Doctor Service does

Living in a city comes with an expected level of privilege in terms of community services, access to education and medical support. Services that we can take for granted because for most of us it is readily available.

In Brisbane, if we require emergency medical care, an ambulance can reach us in under 15 minutes. Now imagine being in a life-threatening medical situation, knowing that help could be up to two hours away. 

This is a reality that many people living in regional Queensland face. Those living in country Australia see a doctor at about half the rate, a medical specialist at one third the rate and a mental health professional at one fifth the rate of those that live in the city leading to a shorter life span cut by two and a half years and up to three times the amount of avoidable chronic illness.

Many communities across regional Queensland rely on lifesaving aeromedical services like the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) for emergency medical care. The RFDS has nine bases across Queensland that have been strategically placed so that no one is more than two hours away from being aeromedically retrieved in case of an emergency.

At Brisbane Airport, we know how critically important this aeromedical support is for the regional community which is why we provide significant financial donations to lifesaving services like the RFDS to support the amazing things that they do for Queensland every day. 

Truly amazing things the Royal Flying Doctor Service does:

1. Operates an emergency retrieval service 24 hours a day, seven days a week while delivering the finest medical care to more than 330,000 Australians each year (that's one person every two minutes). 
2. Delivers a broad range of health care programs beyond emergency retrieval including general practice, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, child and family health, social and emotional wellbeing, mental health, women’s health, oral health and health promotion activities to regional communities.
3. Manages Australia’s third largest airline, with 79 aircraft in the RFDS fleet with 23 of those operating in Queensland.
4. Covers 28,050,960 kilometres in a year, the equivalent of 34 trips to the moon and back, or more than 600 flights around the Earth.
5. Has landed over 43,300 times into Brisbane Airport in the past 13 years to transfer sick patients to the major Brisbane hospitals.
6. Provides comfort to residents of rural Australia by having 1,200 RFDS Medical Chests fitted in homesteads, pastoral stations and schools that contain a range of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical items, which enable emergency and non-emergency treatment to be given to people living and working in remote areas. They are also supported by tele-health service with subscribing doctor assisting first aid via phone.
7. Hits country roads in a fully equipped mobile dental surgery to remote towns with limited or non-existent dental services.

Brisbane Airport has proudly supported the RFDS here in Queensland since 2009, donating over $3.9 million dollars to help purchase vital medical equipment so that the team can focus on their truly amazing and lifesaving work. 

CREDITS

• Feature image: Royal Flying Doctor Service transferring patients requiring emergency care | Photo by RFDS.
• Also read: Steve’s Airborne Connection 
• Watch the RFDS Live Flight Map as they provide vital services across Australia.  
• Show your support and donate to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.