90 Years of Royal Flying Doctors Service: Providing care to people in isolated places in Australia

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An iconic and unique Australian organization turns 90 this year. For the better part of a century, the Royal Flying Doctors Service has been providing essential medical care to people living in some of the country's most isolated places. Greg Navarro has the story.

This might seem like any weekday healthcare clinic, offering the kind of services you'd find just about anywhere. Until you consider where it is, in the rural Queensland town of Pentland, home to one pub, one store and just 200 people.

MELANIE DUNSTAN, SENIOR PRIMARY HEALTHCARE NURSE ROYAL FLYING DOCTORS SERVICE "We are going to places where they don't have access to medical care most of the time."

And you realise what it took for this dedicated team to get here. A flight covering hundreds of kilometres to reach a community seemingly in the middle of nowhere.

BENJAMIN WILBY, PILOT ROYAL FLYING DOCTORS SERVICE "Australia is so vast, especially the north and western part of the country, healthcare is not hours away but sometimes days away especially if someone is injured."

That's why the Royal Flying Doctors Service was created 90 years ago, to provide medical care for people living in some of Australia's most remote communities.

MELANIE DUNSTAN, SENIOR PRIMARY HEALTHCARE NURSE ROYAL FLYING DOCTORS SERVICE " If we didn't come to these places most people would have to drive long distances or fly to get the care that everyone can get, like everyone in the city can get on every corner."

GREG NAVARRO PENTLAND "If you live here in Pentland and you need certain types of emergency care you are going to drive at least 3 hours to get it, where as a team of flying doctors can be here in as little as 20 minutes."

The services they provide are varied - including prenatal and paediatric care, dental and mental health checks. Sometimes the most valued part of these visits is the most basic. A chance to talk about the weather, or share a laugh.

"You don't see many different people in a small town like this. You see someone different or from somewhere else and get someone different to talk to and their sense of humour is a bit different to the people you see every day so it is great."

The job is demanding. The organisation flies the equivalent of more than 30 trips to the moon and back in a single year.

CATHERINE CARROLL, PRIMARY HEALTHCARE NURSE ROYAL FLYING DOCTORS SERVICE "I've had times where I've felt tired from getting up early and tired of getting on another plane but when you walk into a clinic and you see people who are happy to see you and you are happy to provide the service that meets their needs so adequately, it is hard to think of giving that away."

Which keeps these people coming back.

DR MICK BALA, MEDICAL OFFICER, ROYAL FLYING DOCTORS SERVICE "I couldn't imagine doing something I'd enjoy more."

To provide a service that is as essential today.

"It's probably the greatest thing that inland Australia has ever had I suppose."

As it was when the first flight took off nearly a century ago.

Greg Navarro, CGTN, Pentland.