When Leanne Loryman was a young girl, growing up in Yorkshire, Northern England, she loved watching the Flying Doctor TV series.
The show had such an impact it set her heart on becoming a RFDS flight nurse in the Australian Outback.
Leanne’s initial studies were in nursery nursing in the UK and following this, she became a private nanny for a ballet company.
While holidaying in Australia with her partner, Leanne set about pursuing her dream career path.
“We basically came back from our holiday, put the house on the market, I applied for a student visa and we were in Australia 12 months later,” Leanne said.
In Leanne’s final year of studies, one of the options for student placement was with the Flying Doctor in Charleville.
In her application, she told her story, growing up watching the TV series. “Everyone back home said to me ‘you will never work for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, because it’s not real, it’s just a TV show’; they didn’t believe the Service actually existed,” she said. Leanne’s student placement application was successful.
“I had the best two weeks ever, working with the Charleville team,” she said.
“They got me involved in taskings whenever they could and when I drove back to Brisbane I thought this is what I need to do.”
After completing her nursing degree, Leanne set her mind on becoming a flight nurse. She completed a grad program, choosing relevant subjects like intensive care, critical care and oncology; she gained experience in emergency departments, achieved her Rural and Remote Nursing Endorsement, working in Julia Creek and McKinlay; and also completed her midwifery in Townsville.
After 11 years of study, training and hard work, Leanne was successfully appointed a flight nurse position based in Mount Isa, in February 2017.
“It’s been this massive dream come true and it’s still very surreal,” she said.
“The RFDS is held in such high regard and it is amazing to now be a part of that team,” she said.
Catch up with Leanne and the team at the Medical Retrieval Services open day at the Mount Isa hangar on Saturday from 9-11am.