The incredible story of a woman who took the path less travelled to work for the Royal Flying Doctor Service in outback Australia, and what the experience taught her about life, death and human connection.
It was 1988. I had no time for makeup and wore a crushed heart on my sleeve. My life was up in the air. Being a flying doctor grounded me. I went underground to rescue a miner trapped in a rock fall and flew across the outback to treat a critically ill baby. I learned that medicine was not all life and death experiences – it was the quiet moments when you gained a patient’s trust.
It was not Elizabeth Green’s destiny to be a doctor. Raised in the remote Kimberley region of Western Australia, her mother a teacher and her father a priest, the career options open to her were limited. But against the odds of the time and her upbringing, she was accepted to study medicine. The course was set for a life of extremes, one that would see her return to the remote places that shaped her, and grapple with life and death in the Australian Outback.
No Time for Makeup is a raw, unguarded insight into medical life. It is about the light and the dark sides of providing life-saving care. The complexities of practicing in a time of unprecedented social change. The conflicts of being a working parent. The quiet moments of gaining a patient’s trust, and being inspired to become a better doctor.
By:
Dr Elizabeth Green
Imprint: Exisle
Country of Publication: Australia
Edition: Paperback
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781923011090
ISBN 10: 192301109X
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 01 April 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction The moment Part 1: Becoming a junior doctor 1: The birth of a medical dream 2: A backyard bigger than a sheep paddock 3: Red, the colour of blood and dirt 4: My mother’s childhood, milk, butter and cream 5: There were no hugs or books in my father’s house 6: Why I did medicine 7: Nearly there 8: Too young 9: Death 10: First year as a doctor 11: ‘Right place, right time, wrong place, wrong time’ 12: Saved by kindness 13: Psychiatry, triggers and spirals 14: The Queen of Hearts and Mrs Brown Part 2: General practice—bush to the burbs 15: Echuca, where the rivers run 16: Eltham, where the trees bend 17: A lost letter Part 3: Being a flying doctor 18: The call of the outback 19: Flying on the tips of angel’s wings 20: Serendipity 21: Along the Trans line 22: Long way for a house call 23: The other Marg 24: Trapped underground: Lady Bountiful Mine 1990 25: A patient’s trust Part 4: Paediatrics - the long road home 26: The wedding, better than Dimboola 27: Princess Margaret Hospital for Children: Where are the toilets? 28: Death gets a head start 29: Baby on the eighth floor 30: King Edward Memorial Hospital: Born too soon 31: Serendipity 2 32: Port Hedland: back to the bush 33: Birth’s trauma 34: A real paediatrician 35: The changing face of paediatrics 36: You can’t have it all 37: Why being a paediatrician is worth it 38: Ruby roses 39: Thank you Mr Lemon
Dr Elizabeth Green worked in hospitals and in general practice before landing a job with the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The children of the outback inspired her to become a paediatrician, a passion lived for twenty-four years as a private paediatrician in Perth/Boorloo.
