Royal Flying Doctor flight nurses achieve 30 years' service

The Queensland Royal Flying Doctor Service is honouring the outstanding achievement by flight nurses Maree Cummins, Brisbane and Susan Markwell, Cairns.

Both nurses began working with the RFDS in 1987 but were employed by Queensland Health's Division of Child Health at the time, officially becoming RFDS employees in 1991.

Employed by Queensland Health in Mount Isa prior to 1991, Ms Cummins reflected on her time with the RFDS providing child and family health clinics and on emergency evacuations.

"The RFDS didn't employ nurses at the time, but when that changed, I applied," Ms Cummins said.

"I remember responding, along with an RFDS medical officer and pilot, to a burns victim at a remote camp site in far north west Queensland in the middle of the night.

"The patient had sustained critical injuries. Some months later when I was working at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital it was great to hear that he was recovering well despite his horrific injuries.

"I once travelled to another base to cover a shift at short notice and was called to a primary response at the property of a relative.

"It's the people that make the difference. Being involved in fundraising for the RFDS provided me with opportunities to meet and work with so many good people."

From the birth of babies at remote locations, to being part of the response to disasters such as the Bali bombings and other mass casualty events, Ms Cummins was very grateful for all the opportunities that working with the RFDS has provided.

"There's the challenge of providing medical care equivalent to intensive care unit standards in regional, rural and remote Queensland, while working outside the hospital environment," she said.

"The service supported me to move from Mount Isa to Brisbane to complete critical care studies and then later when completing my nurse practitioner studies.

"The RFDS is very supportive with ongoing professional development for nurses."

Ms Markwell worked in rural and remote nursing in Charleville at the start of her career, before her passion grew by moving to Cairns to work with the RFDS in 1990.

"I moved to Cairns RFDS in a child health and evacuation role, servicing areas such as Far North Queensland and Cape York Peninsula, including four large indigenous communities," Ms Markwell said.

"The country lifestyle, people and the diversity were fascinating. That was where my passion for rural nursing developed.

"As the only nurse working in isolation, the work was 24/7 on-call, using initiative to organise the clinics and arrange patient evacuations. It has remained a worthwhile and long-lasting challenge.

Ms Markwell has witnessed a lot of changes throughout her 30 years with the RFDS in North Queensland.

"The development and expansion of RFDS (Queensland Section) services to seven medical bases, a dental unit and mental health programs, demonstrates the strength and flexibility of the RFDS to remain vitally important to the communities we serve," she said.

"The Cairns region is responsible for establishing several play groups, educational field day events for remote communities and has achieved some of the highest rate of immunisations in Australia."

As the demand for more nurses in rural and regional Queensland grew, Ms Markwell said the job was definitely rewarding.

"It has been exciting work to make these and other projects viable, valid and instrumental in improving the services which the RFDS provides," she said.

"This is one of the best nursing jobs if you want to work hard in a challenging and exciting environment of constant change.

"Attaining the necessary qualifications can be daunting - but definitely rewarding."

The RFDS employs more than 1500 staff, at 23 bases across Australia.