Having been a professional Jillaroo since completing her University degree in 2019, Katie Fairfax is a pretty experienced 'hand' on the outback stations and harsh landscapes that she now calls home. With her beloved dogs and a good horse by her side, she's used to working in all weather and sleeping under the stars - often spending her days fixing miles of station fencing and setting up temporary muster camps in the 'middle of nowhere'. But despite the many hours she spends on horseback and around often unpredictable livestock, one of the most dangerous and challenging days of Katie's life actually happened during a 'rare day off'. In this gripping Episode #107 of the Flying Doctor Podcast, Katie shares the story of how in 2020, a spontaneous 'chicken chase' across a homestead lawn in the Kimberley's Margaret River region, quickly transformed into a life-threatening situation.
The station manager’s son, Jimmy (aged 4) had asked Katie to help him muster a rogue, baby chicken for him. But as she ran across the lawn, she failed to notice the large sprinkler system heads that were poking out of the lawn. With her arms outstretched to catch the elusive chicken, Katie half ran and half fell onto one of the sprinkler jets, ‘hitting’ her arm as she went past. She was about to laugh the pain off and keep running, when she noticed all the nearby stock crew looking at her white faced! Katie looked down, only to see that her feet were completely covered in blood. The sprinkler has created a massive hole in her right arm and badly damaged an artery. Katie was on a remote Kimberley station and she was rapidly bleeding out. Feeling increasingly faint and unwell, Katie needed to get to a hospital and FAST!
Thanks to Katie's quick acting station managers (Rex and Jess) and the other first responders at the scene, her bleeding was soon stemmed with a shirt and then a bandage. Having already lost a lot of blood in the first few minutes after her accident, she recalls feeling more and more afraid of just how bad her injury was going to be. After being bundled into a nearby car by her first responders, Katie was raced into the very small, nearby hospital of Halls Creek. While both Katie and the local Doctor were hoping she could just be 'stitched up and fixed' at the local hospital, it quickly became apparent that major surgery would be required. The RFDS was called and one of the fleet's newest jets was soon transporting Katie to Broome for emergency care. Despite some complications and the need for further surgery, Katie is now back working as a Jillaroo in the Kimberley, with her beloved dogs and horses. But for now, she's steering well clear of any chickens!
