Dear valued supporter,
I hope you are all safe and well in these challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since I last wrote to you, the Flying Doctor has been on a tremendous journey to roll out the COVID vaccination program across the South Eastern Section, taking in the Central West, Far West, North-West corridor and locations in the Hunter and Jervis Bay regions. The scale of this endeavour has been vast and far reaching, and accordingly our teams have never been busier. Not only have they been working around the clock to reach every community as quickly as possible with the Pfizer vaccine and respiratory testing as the spread of COVID-19 reached our townships, but have been delivering the regular services our communities need – primary healthcare, GP and critical emergency retrieval services.
Our resources have been stretched, but not beyond our capacity, and we have risen to the challenge, grown to meet the demand, become agile and responsive to anticipate new needs. I have to say that I am so very proud of our teams for this unprecedented, unified and determined effort to safeguard the health of those in rural and remote communities. Our frontline teams care deeply about the health of all those living across our region, and I know many have worked long hours to make this possible. I also wish to acknowledge all the roles in the organisation that enable our health teams to do this work, be they in our administrative, technical or corporate services divisions.
It’s been particularly pleasing to work in partnership with other health services, in particular the Local Health Departments and Aboriginal Medical Services. Truly, it has been a successful effort and demonstrates what can be accomplished between these teams when the need for collaboration arises.
As a dedicated supporter of the Flying Doctor, so much of this is made possible through your belief, assistance and contributions. Your unwavering commitment allows us to make the lives of Australians in the outback better, healthier and safer. Thank you. I trust that you are staying safe and well, no matter where you live, and that the additional upheaval the pandemic has delivered us over the course of the past several months has not impacted you too greatly. Thank you for being by our side throughout. We simply couldn’t do it without you.
Warm regards,
Alex Scamps, President, Royal Flying Doctor Service (South Eastern Section)
