RFDS Flight Nurse, Yvette Jenkins, recently attended the internationally recognised Specialised Training in Aeromedical Retrieval (STAR) program, which delivers aeromedical retrieval training in realistically life-like scenarios.
This training is a must for aeromedical professionals to keep their skills up-to-date and ensure they are ready to handle any situation that might occur at 30,000ft.
For Flight Nurse, Yvette, on-going training that is funded thanks to our supporters, has helped her in many ways throughout her career.
“When I first started with the Flying Doctor we were called out for a patient who had had an ectopic pregnancy where the baby was developing in the Fallopian tubes. She was in a tiny little town out west and they had very limited access to the critical equipment that they needed,” said Yvette.
During this time the service had to call in a flying doctor to operate on the patient in town.
“I think she had lost around three litres of blood at this stage due to a rupture so the main thing we were tasked with was taking the blood with us to her.
“The most amazing part of the whole aeromedical retrieval was the fact that the doctor was operating on her in a little theatre they had in this tiny town.
“When we arrived, we literally took her off the operating table and incubated her for the flight to Brisbane.
“One of the town’s nurses said when we arrived all she could see was the lights coming from our aircraft into town. She described it as a shining star in the black sky. It just gave me Goosebumps and I thought, ‘this is what it’s all about!’”
Thanks to supporters like you, on-going training for Flight Nurses, like Yvette, will keep their skills up-to-date and help save more lives.
