Fear of flying
just part of the fun for this flying doctor BY LLOYD GORMAN
IRISH MEDICO MARK RUDDY KNOWS YOU HAVE TO BE READY FOR ANYTHING WORKING FOR THE ROYAL FLYING DOCTORS SERVICE (RFDS). NOTHING IS PREDICTABLE AND FROM ONE HOUR TO THE NEXT HE COULD BE GIVING LIFE SAVING ADVICE OVER LONG RANGE RADIO TO THE A SHIP OFF THE WA COASTLINE WITH A SICK CREW MEMBER FROM THE RFDS BASE IN BROOME, A MINE SITE ACCIDENT OR A TOURIST INJURED WHILE BRAVING THE KIMBERLEY’S GIBB RIVER ROAD.
18 | THE IRISH SCENE
It would be an unusual day when he didn’t find himself boarding one of the many planes in the RFDS fleet on a mercy dash to a life or death emergency situation, or to reach a health clinic for a remote Aboriginal settlement or some settlement in the WA outback. Never a dull moment. But even Mark wasn’t quite expecting it when a medical mission brought him face to face with an old friend from Ireland. “Only an Irish person could bump into one of their best mates while on patient retrieval in very rural Western Australia and get offered a cup of tea,” Mary O’Dea tweeted on May 27 of herself, with a photo of herself and Mark. The social media shout out naturally caught the interest of Irish Scene which investigated further. Mark, who hails from Dalkey in Dublin, explained that they were old friends who studied medicine together at Trinity College. “The last time we saw each other was in Dublin in December 2019 for mine and Gemma’s engagement party. It was also a bit of a going away party because we left very shortly afterwards for Australia. We went to Townsville, where I worked on the Rescue 521 helicopter. That was January 2020 so we just got in before COVID.” Apart from dealing with an all consuming virus, Mark – who worked as a GP in Dublin – had to grapple with another major difficulty in his new role in a rescue helicopter – a fear of flying. “I never really liked flying full stop but I’m a doctor with an interest in pre-hospital care which means in countries like Australia a lot of aviation work as well. So you can imagine I had a bit of anxiety at the beginning but not for long. Being in a helicopter with the headphones on so that you can
