Barrier Daily Truth

Key RFDS recruit has bases covered

Monday, 6th February, 2012

HIGH FLYER: After weeks of on-the-job training, Professor Jeanette Ward, MBBS, MHPEd, PhD, FAFPHM will begin her new job at the RFDS today.

By Kurtis Eichler 

She’s a self-confessed city slicker who has left the towering skyscrapers of Sydney behind to throw herself into the field of rural medicine.

It’s a field that Professor Jeanette Ward, who holds more post-nominal letters after her name than some of the country’s best doctors, has never before worked in.

So she acknowledges starting the job of General Manager of Health Services at the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) on Monday will involve an enormous amount of listening to staff and learning how the RFDS operates and the services it provides.

Prof. Ward said the aero-medical health service was ready to take yet another big step after having an “unbelievable” record in moving with the times.

“We’ll be able to continue to do great things,” she told the BDT.

“I’m currently, in my own mind, mapping what we can do next that actually means that we can continue to provide great care but to a greater number of people, more effectively with our partners and continue to be a world-class, remote health service.”

While having only been in the headquarters for two weeks, partnerships the RFDS shares with health organisations and the needs of the community are obligations she needs to focus on, she said.

“There’s a lot still for me to learn but the will and the determination of the people I’ve met working in the RFDS is absolutely the secret ingredient for us.”

Prof. Ward’s career in medicine is an impressive one.

She’s a public health medical physician who’s also spent time leading research programs as well as developing skills in corporate governance.

Added to that, she has been involved in health policy, professional colleges, training and education, and government decision making.

Seven years ago she started a two-year stint as an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada, her first and only overseas position.

“Some aspects of the health system are very different though, so it was interesting to just see how the pharmaceutical system is subsidised which is very different to how it’s subsidised in Australia,” she said.

“I don’t think anyone really understands the real differences until you’re there working for a while.

“I didn’t, at that stage, think to understand very deeply the remote aspects.”

That experience, both overseas and at home, has provided what she describes as a “rich skill set” to better tackle her new position.

Classing herself as a “city slicker”, she said that helps her better understand what happens east of the Dividing Range.

“I don’t pretend to even know as much as I need to know yet about remote and rural Australia.”

Prof. Ward is stepping into the shoes of Dr Anne Wakatama who said her replacement has what it takes.

Prof Ward was “well suited” to the position as the service moves into focusing on primary health care, she said.

Her comments were echoed by Captain Clyde Thomson who said that she had also joined the health service at a crucial time as the RFDS expands its primary health care in a bid to complement vital responsibilities in emergency services to outback communities.

“With our many partner organisations, we are poised to forge new paths in primary health care service provision and Jeanette is someone with extensive experience in health policy and strategy, service safety and quality, multidisciplinary team development and community health necessary for this task,” Capt. Thomson said.

Prof. Ward said she’ll be learning more about the bush and, in particular, the city she now calls home. 

“I now have my public library card so I’ve settled in. Once you have your library card, you’re home.”

“Home is where you hang your hat.

“This doesn’t feel tentative to me”

But, she said, “there’s a big job ahead.”