‘You’re expected to manage anything’: Life as a doctor on a tiny island
Now and again, Dr McCoy gets word that O-negative blood destined for the island has been booted from a flight.
Dr Jodie McCoy was already working at Norfolk Island’s only hospital when she was a teenager, as a lifestyle officer at its aged care component.
She left the island in 1998, completing an RACGP fellowship and training at an Royal Australian Air Force base near Brisbane. She then completed an anaesthetist fellowship and worked as a consultant for five years.
Last year, she returned to Norfolk Island — now as medical superintendent.
The island is home to around 2200 people and is about 35 sq km in size.
