Future Flying Doctors?

Grade 6 students from Westbury Primary School eagerly participate in a simulated patient treatment on the life-sized replica.

WESTBURY PRIMARY School students got a first-hand look at how the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) operates all over Australia.

The RFDS brought its interactive aeromedical simulator to the school - a life-sized replica of the fuselage of a flying doctor aircraft. The replica included a cockpit, complete with avionics and a propeller flight simulator. And for students interested in the medical side, the simulator is fully equipped with stretchers, oxygen, suction, and communications.

Simulator presenter Tom Ryan said, “Students climbed on board, strapped themselves in and rescued a patient by landing our aircraft in the Outback.” “We use real-life stories to teach students about the unique nature of the Australian landscape and people’s relationship with it in everyday settings.”

The RFDS online education program was developed to help primary school students understand the significant contribution the organisation has made to Australia’s history and its relevance to all Australians today. Since launching in Tasmania in 2012, the simulator has visited more than 50 per cent of primary schools in the state.

Photo | Mike Moores