Article supplied by RFDS

Steve Mogridge was driving on a lonely stretch of the Goldfields Highway when he instantly lost all feeling in the left side of his body. The 66 year old suddenly couldn’t move while behind the wheel of a manual car, travelling at 110 kilometres per hour.

“I was at least 50 kilometres away from Leonora Hospital, and I somehow had to keep driving. What choice did I have? If I had stopped, I certainly wasn’t going to get the help I needed,” he said.

Steve recognised that he was having a stroke. When he arrived at the hospital, he had to let the car stall to a stop in the carpark. He managed to drag himself to the front doors, where he was able to wave down a nurse inside to come over and assist him.

Shortly after, the Kalgoorlie resident was being flown to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service for treatment. 

“It happened so fast. My job that day was going to be to driving a bus full of staff from the Jaguar Mine to Leonora Airport – instead I was at the Airport, being loaded onto a RFDS plane!” Steve said.

“The crew from Meekatharra were so cool, calm and collected. The pilot assured me they were going to make my flight as comfortable as possible.”

Steve spent two weeks recovering in the stroke unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital, and had a stent inserted in his carotid artery.

After three months off, Steve is now back at work as a bus driver and says apart from a bit of instability on his left side, he’s feeling like himself again.

He says knowing the RFDS is there gives peace of mind to those living in regional areas.

“After my stroke, there was no MRI machine (at Leonora Hospital,) no adequate medication available and no neurologists on hand. The only option was to get to all of this help as soon as possible, it wasn’t coming to me,” Steve said.

“My only alternative to being flown to Perth was to be transferred by ambulance to Kalgoorlie and then driven to Perth. That adds up to more than 9 hours of travel time plus any stops along the way.

“Instead, less than one and a half hours after leaving Leonora Hospital, I was being positioned in a MRI machine at a hospital in Perth. The RFDS saved vital time, which ultimately saved my life.”

Article supplied by RFDS

he Flying Doctor has embarked on a new era of healthcare accessibility, launching the RFDS Electronic Health Record (EHR) to further enhance patient care.

Designed by the RFDS to be compatible with every state and territory health system, the Electronic Health Record allows doctors, nurses and paramedics to share critical medical information in real-time – regardless of whether the patient is in the air and on the ground.

From a laptop or mobile device, RFDS crews can now digitally record a patient’s vital health stats during flight and share the data live with the awaiting receiving team on the ground, meaning life-saving decisions can be made even before the aircraft wheels touch down.

Critically, the EHR works even when offline, making it ideal for emergency health care in the middle of the Australian outback or 10,000 feet above sea level.

RFDS EHR Clinical Lead Dr Mardi Steere said the new technology served as an “extra pair of hands” for a doctor or nurse providing sole care in the back of an aircraft.

“When every second counts, the right information at the right time saves lives,” Dr Steere said.

“The EHR has a live dashboard showing real-time trends and inbuilt safety alerts around allergies and early signs of deterioration as well as guidelines around patient risk factors and medication dosages.

“Before the EHR, crews were committing all of this information on paper, which took more time and was more likely to have errors or be difficult to read.

“Now, our crews can spend more time with the patient rather than with paperwork, building upon the high quality standard of care the RFDS provides.”

Photo: RFDS Executive General Manager, Medical & Retrieval Services, Dr Mardi Steere with Flight Nurse, Jodie Hunter.

RFDS EHR Digital Lead Ryan Klose said the technology was developed using a world-class management platform from global provider Oracle.

“We approached Oracle in the first instance to tap into their data expertise currently used in the defence, banking and elite sport industries,” Mr Klose said.

“The way we are using the technology – in the rural health setting – is truly groundbreaking.

“Take the split-second decision-making of a motor-racing team with the layers of data protection behind every transaction you make at your local ATM. Then apply that to a medical emergency.

“Whether it’s being used in the back of an aircraft or in the back of a road ambulance, the EHR needs to provide information that is accurate and stays private.

“The RFDS employs leaders in their field that truly understand the complexities of working in remote settings and in this project, data experts worked side-by-side with clinicians to come up with a solution tailor-made for the outback environment and for the patients we will help.”

Photo: RFDS SA/NT Chief Information Officer, Ryan Klose.

The RFDS is currently undertaking a staged rollout – SA, NT and NSW are live and Queensland is set to adopt the EHR in coming weeks.

Seed funding for the EHR project was generously provided by Mrs Rinehart and the Rinehart Medical Foundation.

Article supplied by RFDS

When aeromodeller Andrew Herzfeld set out to build a replica Rio Tinto Life-Flight PC-24 jet, he dreamed of using it to fundraise for RFDS WA.


Incredibly, its first unveiling attracted so much attention online, it caught the eye of one of America’s most prolific philanthropists, film and TV producer Tyler Perry. He was so impressed by the model aircraft that he donated $38,000 to RFDS.


Perry is a keen aeromodeller with his own mini airfield at his estate in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also working on building a replica PC-24. Their shared passion means the pair have become fast friends.


“It’s absolutely surreal, I would never have dreamed so much interest would come from this,” Andrew said.


Built with plans supplied by Pilatus, Andrew’s model is built to one third of the scale of the original with astounding detail. It features full flight function, navigational lighting and LED screens in the cockpit. During his three year labour of love, RFDS WA gave him access to the Jandakot hangar to take photographs and measurements of the original jet, and supplied paint to create an exact match.


Andrew is planning to take the 70 kilogram model to field days and expos across WA to keep raising funds for RFDS.


“A friend was involved in an incident on the Nullarbor and was airlifted to Perth by RFDS, so I wanted to find a way to give back.”


Building the replica was an outlet for Andrew during a battle with bladder and kidney cancer.


“Having this passion project to work on kept me going through the difficult days of my treatment,” he said.


You can see more photos of the jet at Hertzy’s Hangar on Facebook.