Providing support every day 

 When most people think of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, they imagine planes landing in the red dirt of the Australian outback in response to a medical emergency, and flying those people to safety. 

This is of course a big part of the history of the Flying Doctor, but here in Victoria, we also work hard every day to help people access the critical care they need to best manage chronic health conditions – and hopefully stay out of emergency care altogether. 

Before Lorraine and her husband Allan began using the Flying Doctor Community Transport service, she counted herself among those people who only thought of the Flying Doctor as, well, a flying doctor. 

“We had a caravan park in WA, just south of Geraldton, for about 25 years, and we knew about the Royal Flying Doctor Service flying people from Geraldton down to Perth,” says Lorraine. When they decided to pack up and move to Heathcote in central Victoria some seven years ago, they assumed they would never encounter the Flying Doctor again. Afterall, there’s no outback, red dirt or even an airport in this country town a mere 110km north of Melbourne. 

However, all that changed last year, when Allan was sadly diagnosed with cancer. Following a stay at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Allan was required to travel to Bendigo every month for seven days at a time to receive chemotherapy. At the beginning, Lorraine drove Allan to his appointments herself, a process she described as “traumatic”. 

“He was very sick,” says Lorraine. “I like to be with him on that first day every month, because we see the haematologist and I have the list of all his medications, and that way there are two people listening to what the haematologist is saying.” 

The trouble though is that Bendigo is a 40 minute drive from Heathcote, and parking at the hospital is never easy. “I have an issue with my leg, and some of the places you park, you have to walk up quite a way to the hospital, and I can't walk up,” says Lorraine. “It was very stressful.” 

Thankfully, a friend of Lorraine’s told her about the Flying Doctor Community Transport service, which has offered Heathcote locals free transport to medical appointments since 2018. Lorraine made a call, and since then, a volunteer driver with the Community Transport service has picked Lorraine and Allan up from their home every month, driven them to the front door of the Bendigo Hospital. After that first day, the Flying Doctor drives both Lorraine and Allan home again, and then drives Allan back to and from the hospital every day for the next six days for this treatment. 

“It's just been a godsend,” says Lorraine. “It reduces the stress so much. On those first days, we go to the haematologist, then the chemo nurses have to wait for the haematologist to contact the chemist, and then you wait for them to bring [the medication] down to the chemo ward. And sometimes I'll be an hour, two hours late [for the pickup]. But the drivers are always there. They never leave you stranded. 

“Unless you experience it yourself, I don't think you realise how good it is that somebody's here to pick you up.” 

And the volunteer drivers themselves have been a source of joy on those otherwise fraught journeys. 

“All the drivers have been lovely. Allan chats to them about a lot of things; for example, Allan likes to ask about the native plants, and they talk about that.” 

Lorraine can also see the impact the service has had on other people in her community who are dealing not with emergencies, but with everyday chronic illnesses that require regular medical attention – something that is not always easy to come by in small rural towns. 

“[If the service wasn’t available], I honestly don't know how we would do it. You know, if it came to the crunch, and I couldn't drive, I really don't know what we would do. And we meet a lot of people on the Community Transport bus, and I don’t know how they would cope either [without the service].” 

Lorraine and Allan never thought they would need the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and certainly not on a monthly basis. But knowing that the Flying Doctor Community Transport service is there to support them through illness means they have more space to focus on each other, and on getting well again. 

“The Community Transport service allows you just to cope with the illness without having the added stress of driving 50 kilometres each way. 

“It's just amazing. It really is. It's an excellent service.” 

To find out more about Flying Doctor Community Transport, and how this service helps rural Victorians better access care for cancer and chronic conditions, head to our website.