You can help save lives
When distance stands in the way, your kindness can help.
With a footprint of 1.7 million km², Queensland is vast. So from the very beginning, the Flying Doctor has embraced new ways to reach patients wherever they are, as quickly as possible. Because while many things have changed in close to a century, the distances haven’t.
In 1928 when the Flying Doctor’s first flight took off from Cloncurry, communication was limited. So, in our early years, we invested in radio.
The goal has always been to bridge the gap between a patient and the medical care they urgently need—because minutes matter in a medical emergency.
Today, it includes telehealth calls, Medical Chests and aeromedical crews ready to respond across Queensland.
Your help is urgently needed to make sure the Flying Doctor is ready and equipped for the next call.
“Recently, a mother called me when her child had a severe allergic reaction. The ambulance was an hour and a half away. So, I took her through giving a shot of adrenaline, which saved her child’s life.”
– Dr Anna Bowen, RFDS Medical Lead for Telehealth.
Your compassion brings care closer
Helen knows what it means to live far from medical help.
Helen Macdonald was born just four years after the Flying Doctor’s first flight. As we were finding our wings, she was growing up on a station, 314km east of Birdsville in southwest Queensland’s Channel Country.
The nearest doctor, travelling east, was a day’s travel away.
So when she gashed her foot at the age of ten, there was no clinic to take her to. No nurse to clean and stitch the wound. But her mother called the doctor and had dressings on hand for the wound. Although Helen can’t be sure, it’s likely that they came from one of the Flying Doctor’s first Medical Chests—there was one on the station for many years.
“I can remember an awful lot of pain and not being allowed to go out. If it had got severely infected, I probably would have got septicaemia and died.”
Helen knows that children in the bush today have adventures, just like she did. And if an accident happens, or a sudden illness strikes, they can be as far as she was from a hospital or doctor.
Helen has been an RFDS supporter for more years than she can count. She’s seen RFDS embrace new technology to meet patient needs and she knows it’s needed more than ever.
“I’m 93 now and I’m seeing the Flying Doctor get close to a century of service. It is 200% necessary. The distances don’t change across our vast and beautiful state, so that’s why I hope people will continue to support the Flying Doctor.”
Your compassion will help the Flying Doctor to reach patients fast. As both Helen and Dr Anna have observed, “If the RFDS isn’t there, it’s not as though you can go around the corner to someone else.”
Please send your gift today to put the right tools in the right hands—and make sure distance doesn’t stand in the way when someone needs urgent care.
Your kindness can help the Flying Doctor be there for generations
A lasting gift of care
A gift in your will can help keep care within reach for people in the bush.
Keep our aircraft flying
Your gift can help purchase, maintain, and fit-out the aircraft that bring life-saving care to remote communities.
Deliver healthcare
You can help provide primary health care services to families and communities who would otherwise go without.
Build for the future
Your support can strengthen vital infrastructure, like new and upgraded bases so the Flying Doctor can keep care moving across Queensland.