Sunday, April 6 at 7.00pm

Lauren & Dan Mayo (Smithville Outpost) ( Part 2)

Last episode we met 23 year old Lauren Mayo and her husband Dan who live in one of the most remote places on earth, Smithville Outpost along the dingo fence on the New South Wales/South Australian border. All Lauren & Dan want is to start a family. Lauren has polycystic ovaries so it’s difficult for her to conceive. Despite her condition Lauren is 7 weeks into her longed for pregnancy. A few days ago Dr Mike Hill received a call from Dan because Lauren was experiencing some bleeding, she has already suffered one miscarriage and they feared she may be losing another baby. Flight Nurse Sue Hines & Pilot Magnus Badger made the flight to Smithville to bring Lauren back to hospital for a scan which revealed a tiny heartbeat. Laruen & Dan returned to the dingo fence. But then just days later there was another call to the RFDS, Lauren had started bleeding again. The RFDS need to get Lauren back to hospital, but this time there is an added complication bad weather means they can’t land at Smithville outpost so Dan must drive Lauren 3 hours on a bumpy road to Tibooburra airstrip where the RFDS can meet them. Finally back in Broken Hill where scans reveal some bad news for Lauren, she has lost her baby.

Ossie Burke (part 1 – continues in Ep 7)
23 year old Ossie Burke has had a serious crash mustering on a remote Queensland property, he has a badly fractured leg but there’s a problem the RFDS can’t land on the remote property because the airstrip is too short for their King Air turbo prop plane, they need at 1000m to land and the strip is only 400m. Stuck on the station and badly in need of help pilot Cameron Gibbs and the service’s only married medical team Dr Bill Hines & Flight Nurse Sue Hines need to come up with another plan.
The station where Ossie is stuck has a small aircraft so the crew prepare to meet Aussie at Tibooburra.
Bill & Sue find Ossie is in serious pain, he is distraught and going into shock. Every move causes Ossie shuddering pain but Bill needs to examine his leg and get his boot off to make sure Ossie isn’t suffering from a blood clot. It’s a critical situation, with the pain almost too much for Ossie to handle, and to make matters worse this tough Aussie cowboy is terrified of needles.

Zoe
Senior base pilot Ashley Myles and Flight Nurse Diana Kumnick have been called out on a priority one emergency. 12 year Zoe from a farm 80kms out of Walgett has had a serious fall from her horse. Her parent’s first reaction was to rush her to the Walgett hospital, it’s a decision they may live to regret. Zoe is complaining of lower back pain and when they arrived at the tiny local hospital she couldn’t walk. The last thing Zoe’s parents should have done is risked any more injury to Zoe’s spinal chord.
Zoe has to be stabilised and flown the 100’s of kms to Dubbo hospital for further tests. Pilot Ashley Myles uses his years of training to provide a smooth flight for Zoe. It’s every parents worst nightmare to see their child in so much pain.
Zoe is worried she will never be able to walk again. After tests Zoe returns home with only ligament damage, it’s a lucky escape and one she & her parents will remember forever.

Jim Palmer
Before every landing the pilots call for a ‘roo run’, a procedure where locals drive up and down the airstrip to clear it of any wildlife, particularly kangaroos. It would be bad enough hitting a kangaroo in a car let alone in an 8 million dollar aircraft.
Jim Palmer is a White Cliffs local, he moved to the tiny opal town 37 years ago. Jim is a bit of a character, he’s a loner who lives in a caravan with his rooster & hens and his dog called ‘bitch’. But he’d never call himself lonely! Jim’s off to an RFDS clinic for a check up, he’s recovering from ‘Jackie Dancer down the comics!” translated that means bowel cancer. While he’s at the RFDS clinic he’s shows the doctor a couple of skin cancers on his arms from a lifetime under the harsh Australian sun. Dr David Garrne tries a special freezing liquid to remove the lesions….but Jim reckons he’s tried sand-paper to get rid of them and that works…if it doesn’t he’s going to try a carving knife he has at home.