Hours from help, hope arrived from the sky

QSuper is proud to support RFDS flight nurses through essential training, allowing them to manage a wide range of medical scenarios and emergency situations. Flight Nurse Leanne shares her ‘Stories from the inside’ of RFDS QLD.

Mount Isa Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Flight Nurse, Leanne Loryman is the perfect example of how dreams can come true.

Leanne, who is one of 65 Flight Nurses being supported by a partnership with QSuper, was inspired to join the RFDS in her early years in Europe. She happened to spy the Australian TV show, The Flying Doctors while she was growing up in Berlin, Germany.

“I was sitting there, watching it and didn’t actually believe it was true. That kind of thing never existed when you're in gloomy, Germany. So, I decided that's what I was going to do,” Leanne said.

Even during her prac experience in the outback, Leanne knew she was on the right path.

“I got to do some remote clinics and evacuations and by the time I left, I was on cloud nine. I was like, this is definitely what I'm going to do. From that point on I tailored my whole postgraduate and nursing experience to get me here.”

Flight Nurses must be ready for anything, which is why QSuper’s partnership will support them to fulfil ongoing training. This includes nurses taking part in the internationally recognised aeromedical STAR program.

Leanne recalls one of these unexpected scenarios in Stories from the inside, a series supported by QSuper and featured within The Courier Mail’s QWeekend magazine.

A boy had fallen off a horse in outback Queensland and Leanne’s crew enlisted local support to reach him.

“We couldn't actually land near him, so we had to get on mustering helicopters after being on the airplane,” she said.

“I was quite comfortable because those helicopter pilots that do the mustering of the cattle are just phenomenal pilots, to weave in and out of trees. I felt quite safe. I was more bothered about not dropping my equipment out the window.”

QSuper is Queensland’s largest super fund, with $80 billion in funds under management, while the RFDS has supported Queenslanders for more than 90 years and operates 21 aircraft from nine operational bases.

Our mutual goal is improving the wellbeing of all Queenslanders and, together, we’re in it for the long haul.

For more information on RFDS, visit flyingdoctor.org.au/qld