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Working for our community.Latest News
General News
RFDS
Humble
Start
17.5.07
From humble beginnings back in 1928 when it leased its first aircraft from Qantas, the Royal Flying Doctor Service celebrated 79 years of service to the Australian community on Tuesday.
Today the Service has a fleet of 50 aircraft, operating from 22 bases around Australia. This year its crews will fly a total of 20 million kilometres and make close to 250,000 patient contacts, or around one new patient every three minutes.
RFDS General Manager, Public Relations and Marketing, John Tobin said: ìThe RFDS truly is one of this countryís great icons.
ìIt has been instrumental in the development of regional Australia, supporting farming, mining and other communities across a huge land expanse.
ìOur role has certainly evolved over the years. Whilst we continue to assist thousands of people each year in emergency type situations, we also play a far greater role than ever before in taking preventative health out to rural and remote communities.î
Core services provided by the RFDS include emergency evacuations, air ambulance services, primary health clinics to remote communities, a Rural Womenís GP Service and radio and telephone consultations for isolated patients.
More recently the RFDS has also conducted First Aid Training and First Response Emergency Training courses in remote communities across South Australia, whilst it now employs a Community Mental Health Nurse from its Port Augusta base.
ìOne of the great myths that we are keen to dispel is that the RFDS is only for people in the bush,î Mr Tobin said.
ìWhilst our origins are in the Outback, today we assist people from rural, remote and even the metropolitan area.
ìFor instance last year our crews made 835 landings in the South East region, 833 on the Eyre Peninsula and 468 in the Riverland.
ìAs for more remote locations, we landed at Olympic Dam on 92 occasions, 145 times in Coober Pedy and made 62 touchdowns in Marla.î
Whilst receiving funding support from the Commonwealth and State Governments, the RFDS continues to rely heavily on fundraising to support the purchase of new aircraft and medical equipment.
It also uses proceeds from donations and corporate sponsorship to underpin an expanding range of vital health programs.
The RFDS is about to launch its May Appeal and all South Australian are invited to support the organisationís life saving work by phoning 08 8238 3333 or by going to www.flyingdoctor.net/central
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