Flying Doctors & Flights of Mercy

Flying Doctors and flights of mercy

BY LLOYD GORMAN

Irish Scene was one of the first media outlets anywhere to publish (on March 26 and 27) the story of the sudden exodus of Irish people - including dozens of doctors and nurses - flying at short notice from Perth to Ireland to do their bit in the fight against COVID-19. The first of the two articles - published while they were still en-route back to Ireland - attracted more than 10,000 online readers within hours of the story going live, Irish Scene’s biggest ever readership for a single story, a sure sign of the community interest in their manic mission. But some criticised them openly for abandoning their adopted country, fleeing it in its hour of need. That view demands a response. While they obviously made what they felt was the right decision for them it would not have been an easy choice. Many of them made split second decisions to walk away from lives they had built in Australia. That takes courage. Every one of them would have had their own personal reasons why they chose to go. Family. Duty. Maybe a friend had contracted coronavirus or a loved one was at high risk. Who wouldn’t rush to protect their family and friends and fellow citizens if they could? They were not flown back at the expense of the taxpayer here, or in Australia, they paid for their own tickets. And what would those critics say about Australian medics living and working abroad who were doing exactly the same thing and trying to get back home to be of help. Should they not be encouraged to come? As events (at time of writing) have proved, the decision of so many Irish medics to return to Ireland was absolutely the right thing to do. Thankfully (again at time of writing) the measures Australian political and health systems have been able to put in place have worked incredibly well. Ireland has not been so fortunate and their need for healthcare professionals is greater. More than a thousand medically trained people returned to Ireland to support their Irish colleagues in the fight against COVID-19. Every single one of them would have made a contribution that money can’t buy. The fact that about ten per cent of them came from Australia, from Perth, is something we should be proud of. Speaking in the Dail recently Health Minister Simon Harris said he would try to encourage as many of them to remain after the crisis has abated. Some may well do that but others may come back to Australia again. Whatever they choose to do they deserve our thanks and respect, just like every other hospital and healthcare worker on the frontline. The following is an edited version of the stories that appeared on the Irish Scene Facebook site on March 26/27.

A Qantas airliner - chartered by the Irish government - carrying 170 Irish people - eighty of them doctors and nurses - scrambling to get ‘home’ left Perth, Western Australian on Wednesday of this week. It came as most carriers slash or even stop most of their international routes in recent days and some countries close their borders.

The large contingent of medicos - mainly from WA hospitals - all responded to the Irish government’s “On Call for Ireland” drive for qualified or retired personnel to sign up as volunteers in a national campaign against the pandemic.

“There were many happy people heading home,” Ireland’s

Honorary Consulate in Perth, Marty Kavanagh told Irish Scene.

The mercy mission - which does not appear to have been picked up by local (WA) news outlets but has been reported by some Irish media - is understood to have flown the Perth to London route. Qantas - which is headed up by Irish aviation boss Alan Joyce - launched the direct route in March 2019.

Once there other arrangements were made to get the passengers then flying to Ireland where they will have to selfisolate for 14 days, and also register with bodies such as the Irish Medical Council.

In a short statement Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney confirmed the “successful departure” on Wednesday (March 25) had 170 Irish citizens on board.

“Their departure was achieved by the efforts and determination of our Embassy and Consulates in Australia, working with Qantas,” he said. “I want to thank them all. Our consular team at HQ continues their efforts to asset all our citizens around the world who have been affected by the coronavirus and are looking to come home. We are working on a number of options and hope to facilitate further flights in the coming days.”

It is understood those who managed to get onboard had registered with Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

As reported last night, the Qantas flight (QF5) from Perth - chartered by the Irish government - safely touched down in London with the 170 Irish people on board - including eighty medics - then making the short trip home with Ireland’s national carrier.

Not long after they touched down, one of their number - Dr Hilary Coyle, who was working in Perth until she resigned from her position here - spoke with RTE Radio 1 offering some of the first insights and reactions of the new arrivals.

“It’s been a really really long journey, that started in Perth at ten past ten Australian time, on the 25th of March,” Dr Coyle told the Irish broadcaster. “We got on a Qantas flight, which was a 17 hour flight direct to Heathrow, we were lucky enough to be sorted with flights from Aer Lingus. I can’t believe we are home. We are so excited just to be back on Irish soil. I think a lot of us were skeptical it would ever happen.”

The sense of the scale of the Coronavirus outbreak in Ireland was evident from the moment they landed in Dublin airport.

“We were met by two members of the Irish embassy who really stood back, a two metre distance and there were constant reminders gong through the airport and baggage claim in Ireland to keep your distance,” she added. “It’s really really good that its being enforced and people are taking it seriously. We didn’t see it being taken that seriously back in Australia, as of yet, but I’m certain its to come in the next couple of days.”

Every person on the mercy flight from Perth had their own personal reasons and motivations to return to Ireland, but they shared a common sense of purpose.

“We all had the joint reason for coming back,” she said. “We want to help out our colleagues on the front line, we are all Irish doctors, we were all trained in Ireland and we have a huge sense of duty to come back and help out the Irish people as well as the Irish health care workers, as well as personal reasons to come home, be close to family.”

Before they can do anything all 170 passengers will have to go into isolation for 14 days. For many the pause may give them a chance to (remotely) sort out their registrations.

“A few of us have yet to register with the Irish Medical Council but I know they are doing really well to fast track applications to help us get back to work as soon as possible,” she said. “We all signed up to the HSE (Health Service Executive) ‘On Call’, so we’ll have to wait and see those contracts and what they mean for us, where we’ll be placed and everything.”

The RTE presenter thanked Dr Hillary and the other for what they were doing. In turn she thanked the Irish public for their support. “We hope now we can give back and get back

Irish ambassador Breandán Ó Caollaí recommended concerned Irish citizens in Australia to register on the DFA website as the best way for the authorities to contact them. Irish nationals who may have to extend their stay in Australia should consult the Department of Home Affairs about their visa status, if relevant.

“The staff in our three missions are responding to huge demands and are doing a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances,” Ambassador Ó Caollaí said. “Our missions are liaising closely with the Government-funded immigrant support agencies in cases of urgent need.”

fighting this virus.”

She also thanked the Department of Foreign Affairs, Embassy and Consulates in Australia, Qantas and Aer Lingus for making it possible for them to get home.

As Dr Hilary said, she and the other Irish doctors had responded to the Health Service Executive’s ‘On Call for Ireland’. That national campaign to recruit healthcare professionals no longer in the sector, retired GPs and other former health workers as well as medical students and volunteers was launched on St Patrick’s Day. Within a week of the appeal, some 60,000 people had signed up.

That is a remarkable outcome, by any measure. The HSE aims to interview and process 6,000 of them a week. These people - this generation - have proved their worth.

The last time there was such a patriotic and overwhelming rush to defend the country - that I can think of - was back in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I. Those were different times and a very different situation but the numbers involved are on a par with the modern reaction. As soon as the call went out tens of thousands of Irish men [Unionists and Nationalists/Protestants and Catholics] enlisted as volunteers in what was called ‘Kitchener’s Army’ or ‘Kitcheners Mob’ where they formed Irish Divisions within the British army. Many of them would see action - and lose their lives - at Gallipoli and on the Western Front.

Kitchener - Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC to give him his full moniker - was a titan of the British establishment and the British war effort. Kitcheners Common in Subiaco, Perth for example, was named after him at the outbreak of the war, and retains that name even today.

By coincidence he was also born in Ireland but he never considered himself to be an Irish man - in fact he had a strong disdain for them, particularly the Catholic population.

Kitchener - a single handed military industrial complex - was born to an English father who had not long before bought land in Ireland as part of a scheme aimed at British officers who sold their commissions, buying their way out of the army. The Kitchener family did not spend long in Ireland, but long enough for it to be the place where little Horatio came into the world.

In any case, most people will know Kitchener by sight. His is the face that forms the stern and striking figure of some of the British army’s most successful recruitment posters. The imposing image was crafted by graphic artist Alfred Leete and is credited as being responsible for hundreds of thousands of young men joining up. The American’s liked it so much they stole the concept, substituting Kitchener’s visage and pointing finger with that of Uncle Sam. Just an interesting aside, one of the other artworks Leete created in his career was an iconic “My Goodness where’s my Guinness?” poster.

The ‘On Call for Ireland’ campaign did include a poster, one that lacked any artistic merit or iconic imagery, but it seems it didn’t need them to be successful.