Murrumbidgee Local Health District the first in NSW to partner with Royal Flying Doctor Service to combat coronavirus
The local health district has been announced as the first across NSW to partner with The Royal Flying Doctors to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes after cancellation of domestic flights to regional areas, including Wagga.
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The Murrumbidgee Local Health District has been announced as the first NSW health district to be partnering with the Royal Flying Doctor Service during the COVID-19 Pandemic to bring clinicians to our region.
Today, the first flight landed at Wagga airport delivering four clinicians to provide support to the team at MLHD.
The service brings doctors with a range of specialist skills into Wagga and Griffith, as well as providing agency nurses when required.
“The cancellation of domestic flights to regional centres became one of our biggest challenges,” MLHD Patient Flow and Transport Manager Phil Major said.
“We needed to figure out how to secure consistent access to specialists for our region.
“Partnering with RFDS is a great solution to ensure we are still able to provide fly-in and fly-out services in our region. It means we can continue to have access to the specialist staff we need here on the ground.”
David Charlton, RFDS strategic adviser of service development, said: “Our aeromedical support team are really happy to be able to be part of this support Murrumbidge”.
“I’ve received so many messages of support from our staff, they are so excited to be able to support this initiative,” Mr Charlton said.
The flights are scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursday each week.
As of 8am today, five people in the district have recovered from the coronavirus and the number of cases remain at 42.
Coronavirus advice
The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, sore throat and dry cough.
Symptoms will generally appear 3-4 days after exposure to the virus but can be up to 14 days later.
Members of the public are advised to minimise travel, increase personal awareness around hand hygiene and practice social distancing.
Anyone who believes they have may have contracted the COVID-19 virus (i.e. who are returned travellers, or who have come in contact with a confirmed case and are showing symptoms: fever, sore throat, dry cough and shortness of breath) are advised in the first instance to:
- Call the coronavirus hotline on 1800 020 080 and receive advice about the best course of action depending on symptoms and risks.
- Contact your GP to arrange an appointment (let GP practice know in advance if you have symptoms).
- Call the Murrumbidgee COVID-19 Hotline on 1800 831 099 for assessment