Little Zendayah Major’s close connection with Royal Flying Doctor Service [Queensland Section] Lesley Mallard is evident as she checks the little girl’s ears and heart at the Dajarra Primary Health Clinic in the quiet outback town, 200km west of Mount Isa.

Despite the stifling heat and relentless flies, Zendayah happily grins as Lesley, the Primary Health Care nurse manager for Cairns and Mount Isa, hands her a piece of fresh fruit, donated by the Woolworths Group as part of the Free Fruit For Kids program.

“Lesley is great,” says Denika, mother to Zendayah and her brothers Zydan and Zefan. “The kids really love her.”

A principal partner of the Woolworths Group for almost 10 years, the RFDS in Queensland has nine operational bases, which deliver aeromedical retrieval services as well as preventative and primary health care to regional, rural and remote Queenslanders. 

The clinic at Dajarra, which has a rich Indigenous heritage, is just one of 22 locations covered by Lesely and her team of Primary Health clinicians. She’s proud of the positive impact they’ve had in these communities, particularly in terms of child health.

At the start of each week, the devoted nurse picks up a big box of donated fresh fruit from Woolworths Mount Isa and divides it up for the clinics she will visit during the week.
 

“The kids really enjoy the fruit, don’t they?” smiles Lesley.

 “We do our best work by engaging people and connecting with them. They trust us so we can have really good conversations with them about their children's health and wellbeing – not just physical health, but emotional and mental health as well.

“It's reassuring to know that you've got that connection and that they really value the service that we're providing, too.”

The daughter of an adventurous remote area nurse, who met Lesley’s dad while working in the Torres Strait as a nurse educator and midwife, Lelsey started her role with the RFDS six years ago after working and raising her sons in remote areas like East Arnhem Land for 20 years.

With a wealth of lived remote experience, she knows firsthand that remote families are disadvantaged by distance and that, for many people, the RFDS is the only health service available.

“I grew up living in remote locations and I raised my family in a remote location, so I know what it's like to not have access to health care,” she says. “I know what it's like to not have supermarkets and dentists around, and to not have physios and those types of things.

“I understand what it means if you have to travel to go and see a doctor. You have to leave your work. You have to leave your property. You might have to leave your other kids, or take your kids out of school for an appointment that anybody else can just drive across the city for and see the clinician of their choice.

For people out here, it's a two or three day adventure to go and get that type of health care. That’s why the service we offer is so important."
 

"Our footprint in remote Australia is that there's no one else doing it, providing it.”

Lynda Inglis, partnership specialist at RFDS Queensland, says Woolworths Group’s support has been invaluable to allow the RFDS to service remote and regional communities across the state.

“We really are the lifeline for residents and people who live, work and travel in regional, rural and remote communities. It’s good to be able to live in these communities and know the RFDS is there for them if they need it, as well as the primary health care services we offer,” she says.

“Woolworths Group has partnered with the RFDS here in Queensland since 2015 and the incredible support plays a crucial part in our ability to evolve and adapt to the ever-changing environment in which we operate and ultimately ensures the future sustainability of the RFDS.”

Woolworths Community Programs Manager Loretta Arrastia could not be prouder of the long-time partnership.

“Through our contributions, and the support of our customers and team, we're helping the RFDS in Queensland to achieve their mission of ‘the furthest corner, the finest care,” says Loretta.

“Seeing the community get behind the RFDS in our stores each and every year shows just how much the RFDS means to everyone.”