Royal Flying Doctor Service pilot and midwife find love in the skies while saving lives - ABC News
Posted
A mid-air medical emergency might seem an unlikely place to find love, but not for one Queensland couple.
For the past 17 years, midwife and flight nurse Justine Powell has been flying to remote communities for the Royal Flying Doctor Service Queensland (RFDS).
After beginning her career in Rockhampton, she transferred to Brisbane where she met James Williams, a flight standards pilot.
"We worked together quite a lot over the years and we developed a friendship, and then we became husband and wife," Ms Powell said.
"All the while we were in and out of remote communities helping those who needed it."
Mr Williams also remembered the time fondly.
"I did some time in Rockhampton, and Justine and I flew up there, but we were just work colleagues," he said.
"I do remember seeing Justine for the first time; it mightn't have been the conventional way but we became friends and it really grew from there."
'The difference we make to lives'
Ms Powell said it was a privilege for the couple to be there during extreme moments in people's lives.
"We transfer a lot of pregnant women and often we're moving women with twins out of their hometowns at a heightened time for women," she said.
"One woman had been moved more than 15 times between her home in western Queensland and Brisbane.
"What makes it so rewarding is when we follow up with them and they come out to the base and show us their babies and we see the difference we make in those lives."
In her current role as manager of clinical and base operations, Ms Powell is responsible for the Brisbane base, its hangar, engineers and aviators.
"My true passion is being a flight nurse, and I still get to fly and look after patients while watching over the base here.
"You never know what a day is going to bring and we rely on our close teams to support each other.
"The pilot, the nurse and doctor support each other, and you don't get that in a hospital setting; it's an amazing job for the diversity that we see every day."
'I've been part of something good'
Mr Williams said he knew he wanted to be a pilot for the RFDS from a young age.
"It was something my mother and father spoke about, and when I started flying that was my goal," he said.
He joined the RFDS in 2000; his current position sees him training and checking in on new aeromedical pilots in the organisation.
"One of the things I realised early on is that the pilot can really help that small team.
"I remember going out of Mount Isa from Camooweal picking up a patient who went into cardiac arrest and the doctor got me to do CPR on the stretcher.
"One minute I was flying an aeroplane and then I was under a doctor's tutelage administering CPR."
He said his role combined all the things he loved, and after nearly four decades of flying, half his time in the sky had been with the RFDS.
"For me it's a sense of altruism and at the end of the day I come home and think, 'I've been part of something good today'."
Beating cyclones and saving babies
One of Ms Powell's most memorable callouts was carrying the last newborn out of Cairns during Cyclone Yasi.
"We were the last aircraft to leave Cairns before they shut the airport," she said.
"We were evacuating the special care unit and neonatal unit, carrying those small babies out of the hospital to bring them to Brisbane.
"It shows the dedication of our staff, and on that particular day I remember phoning the staff at midnight to tell them their shift was going to start at 2:00am, and our staff just said: 'If that's what we have to do, let's get up there and do what we need to do.'"
Still flying high together
Although flying together has become less frequent due to changing job roles, occasionally the couple get to take to the sky together.
"We don't really end up on the same roster anymore as I'm away training people, and Justine's flying roles are not as frequent as they used to be," Mr Williams said.
"It's not often but it's great when we do.
"The last time we flew together was on James's birthday — it was his birthday present that he got to fly with me," Ms Powell added.
ABC Radio Brisbane has partnered with not-for-profit RFDS Queensland for the annual Queensland Gives Christmas Appeal to raise money for vital lifesaving equipment.
To donate, visit Queensland Gives or phone 07 3852 7515.
Topics: health, family-and-children, doctors-and-medical-professionals, human-interest, people, brisbane-4000
https://ift.tt/2Rgiax1
Comments
Post a Comment