FLYING DOCTOR" SERVICES
Australian Organisation PRESBYTERIAN INLAND MISSION Dominion Special Service. Auckland, February 21. “Five flying doctor services, operating over hundreds of thousands of square miles from centres equipped with medical staffs, planes, pilots and mechanics and directed by networks of wireless stations, have been organised since 1928 by the Australian inland mission of the Presbyterian Church, ’ said the Rev. John Flynn, 0.8. E., founder and superintendent of the mission, on his arrival at Auckland by the Niagara to-day. For 35 years Mr. Flynn has journeyed thousands of miles ministering to the desperate needs of,settlers in the interior of Victoria, South Australia and 'the Northern Territory and, stirred by his experience of their tragic isolation, he prepared a report in 1912 recommending the consolidation of the missionary enterprise and the organisation of a strong programme of welfare work. As a result, the Australian inland mission of the Presbyterian Church was established. “One of the first ventures of the new mission,” said Mr. Flynn, “was the foundation of 12 nursing homes in far-removed back country communities. These were designed to be the forerunners of hospitals, and now five of them have been completely equipped for this service, two being financed and administered by the districts they serve and the three others directed and supported by the State Governments.” It was soon realised that no system of hospitals could reach more than a fraction of the number of settlers urgently needing assistance. Then it was that Mr. Flynn conceived the idea of aerial medical services assisted by a radio system of 50 stations. Remarkable work has been done in this vast territory. Last week two children - were brought some 2000 miles to a medical specialist in Brisbane. It was discovered they were suffering from infantile paralysis. Without the service they would have had no chance, as their district was completely isolated by floods.
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 126, 22 February 1938, Page 8
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311FLYING DOCTOR" SERVICES Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 126, 22 February 1938, Page 8
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