International Nurses Day

Each day, the RFDS Central Operations team of almost 100 nurses, alongside our entire workforce, provide the finest care to the furthest corners.

Our crews deliver almost 53,000 episodes of care each year to patients across South Australia and the Northern Territory.

To mark International Nurses Day, we reached out to five of our crew to ask them what their job means to them.
Here’s what they said...

James Bonello – Flight Nurse, Adelaide Base

“Wherever we’re needed, we’re often going out to bring people in rural and remote areas to care that they can’t get close to home… It could be cardiac, stroke, or trauma patients who’ve experienced car accidents or falls. We get a lot of people who have complex medical histories as well. I absolutely love the RFDS workplace, and the unique perspective we get of outback Australia.”

Sonia Lyon – Deputy Flight Nurse Manager, Port Augusta Base

“Quite often you’ll turn up and it’s the worst day of people’s lives, and you’re there just to make a little bit of a difference. I’ve also enjoyed just returning people to their families. Sometimes that’s the really rewarding part – getting them home after they’ve been away from that environment for so long.”

Joh Talman – Deputy Flight Nurse Manager, Alice Springs Base

“In Alice Springs, it’s quite a challenging environment – people are extremely isolated with limited resources. From that end, we really enjoy the opportunity to think outside the box with the resources and time we have so we can deliver the best outcomes for our patients. What also really appeals to me is growing our cultural awareness and sensitivity here on the Lands. We’re working with multiple different communities and learning from the people themselves about specific things like what makes them comfortable and how their family works. It’s a really special part of our job.”

David Gordon – Remote Area Nurse, Marla

“I have worked as a remote area nurse in lots of different places in Australia. I like the aspect of travel, getting out and the type of people you deal with and the situations you come across. Currently I’m in Marla, which is a small town on the Stuart Highway… I have a couple of clients I see daily then I deal with whatever presents. Like all remote communities it can be anything from obstetric to psychiatric. The biggest challenge is dealing with road trauma.”

Kirsty Chown – Flight Nurse, Adelaide Base

“The thing about being a Flight Nurse is that there is no typical day. In the morning I could be looking after a newborn baby and transporting the mum and bub to Adelaide, then I could be going to get a cardiac patient or flying up to a remote mine or station to airlift a trauma patient. It’s different every day, which keeps it exciting and interesting – you always learn something new and you’ve got to think on your feet a lot.”