"I had an eventful day yesterday. Got up at the crack of dawn after a wakeful night in anticipation, and drove to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Departure Terminal at Bankstown Airport for 7am takeoff. We went down and up in those very strong winds to Newcastle, (to collect the Nephrology team from John Hunter Hospital), Port Macquarie (to drop them off), and finally the Northern Rivers town of Lismore where I got a hire car and drove to a Nursing Home in a nearby town to do staff education for about 10 staff, using my brand new Powerpoint Presentation and the Hospital's Projector and laptop.
All went like clockwork and the staff were, as usual, appreciative of the insights they had gained and hopeful of improved care for their resident. I saw the HD resident and her husband, who were very appreciative of the visit. I had time for a quick lunch, filled the car and drove back in a hurry for a 3pm (at the latest!) departure back the same way we had come.
While having lunch I had a phone interview with a reporter from the Northern Times regarding a short story she will publish on the Huntington Disease Service and the needs of people with Huntington Disease.
Going home the winds were even stronger and the (single) pilot Scott certainly earned his pay with keeping us as even as possible. Once I had got used to the uncomfortable motion (and had had a little nap to recover from my sleep deprivation on the first 2 laps), I started to feel less queasy and eventually managed to quite enjoy the excitement!
We were flying in a Beechcraft Kingair which has two propeller driven engines and is pressurised and able to fly high enough ( I think it was about 13,000 feet) to miss the wind for most of the trip. This one was fitted out for retrieval of patients so had only 6 seats. We flew up the coast mainly so had a great view of all our favourite beaches. I was impressed with the skill of the pilot who made perfect landings each time, squeezed in and out past us all each time (and he looked about 6 foot), found bags in case we needed them for the rough weather (!), escorted us on and off, stowed our baggage, and was calm, friendly and relaxed all the time. He will be going to Bourke etc today and had been to Launceston the previous day to collect this plane for our trip.
RFDS is certainly a wonderful service started by Flynn of Uniting Church fame and still appears to have a philosophy of old fashioned care and consideration for the customers. There is, however, always a hitch - this time it was the discovery at Lismore that we landed at the "old" terminal which is kilometers away from the brand new one where my hire car was waiting! Thank goodness for mobile phones. Although by the time the messages were left and received by Avis at Ballina, I had gone by taxi to the new terminal to discover the car had now gone to the old one! Luckily we had landed half an hour early so the delay did not eat into my clinical time too much.
I never cease to be amazed at air travel - what keeps us in the air! Anyhow, I had a good sleep after my 13 hour day. You would have to agree that I do have an interesting job."
Copyright © 2002, Angela Lownie.
(The Rural Outreach Service is funded by the Australian Huntington's Disease Association (NSW) Inc. A major portion of this funding comes from the Association's telemarketing program.)
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