It Takes Heart

A passion for physiotherapy and a childhood dream of becoming a pilot might seem like an unlikely combination, but for Kennedy Lay, they sparked an idea that would transform access to allied health services across regional and remote Australia. What started with a rented two-seater plane and a visit to a small country town has grown into Fly2Health, an organisation bringing much-needed healthcare to communities often left without access to essential services.

In this episode, Kennedy shares his journey from physiotherapist to commercial pilot and founder and CEO of Fly2Health. Recognised as a 2026 WA Australian of the Year finalist, he reflects on the patient conversation that sparked it all and how his team has grown to support 117 communities across Australia. He also opens up about the challenges of rapid growth, building trust in rural communities and creating a workplace where allied health professionals can thrive.

We also explore the importance of continuity of care, the role of technology in improving healthcare access and what it takes to make a lasting difference in rural healthcare. Kennedy's story is a reminder that sometimes the biggest impact starts with a simple idea and the courage to give it a go.

Kennedy's organisation of choice, Fly2 Foundation, provide free flights to Perth for vulnerable people living in country WA, supporting access to essential, non-emergency medical appointments and treatment - without the burden of distance or cost.  

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

What makes a great leader in healthcare? After more than 40 years in nursing and healthcare leadership, Tami Photinos knows it has very little to do with job titles. For her, it's about showing up, listening to your people and being willing to ask the questions others might be afraid to.

With a career spanning everything from intensive care and midwifery to helicopter retrievals, Tami now leads one of Queensland’s busiest hospitals. She shares the lessons that have shaped her approach to nursing leadership, from creating safe spaces for people to speak up to staying true to yourself. We also hear about her experience responding to the devastating 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Banda Aceh and what it takes to lead through a crisis.

Tami opens up about navigating COVID-19, experiencing burnout and suffering a heart attack that made her rethink her own wellbeing. It's an honest conversation about the pressures of working in healthcare, the power of human connection and why looking after yourself matters just as much as looking after others.

Tami's organisation of choice is Women's Health and Equality QLD, leaders in women’s health, gender equity and the primary prevention of violence in Queensland. They provide counselling, therapeutic groups and health services for women and gender-diverse people, as well as health promotion, community programs, professional education, and systems change.

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

For Dr Damien Brown, becoming a rural doctor meant confronting a side of Australian healthcare few people ever see up close. From remote clinics and aeromedical retrievals to communities where distance, poverty and chronic disease shape everyday care, his career has revealed both the rewards of remote healthcare and the healthcare inequity that still exists across Australia.

Damien joins It Takes Heart to share the journey from inner-city emergency departments to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) projects in Angola and South Sudan, before moving into rural and remote medicine across Australia. He speaks candidly about arriving at his first remote placement underprepared and why clinicians considering this path need the right support and environment, not simply more qualifications. The conversation also explores the realities shaping remote healthcare, from housing and food access to workforce shortages and chronic disease.

Damien also shares what inspired his book Bush Doctor, his frustration with conversations about healthcare inequity that lack urgency, and the quieter moments that make the work meaningful - building trust, simplifying complex medical choices and helping families support loved ones to spend their final days on Country. This episode is for anyone interested in remote healthcare, rural medicine, Aboriginal health, healthcare inequity or the reality of life as a bush doctor.

More about Damien's Organisation of Choice, The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.
RFDS is a national charitable healthcare organisation providing primary healthcare and 24/7 emergency services to those in rural and remote Australia.  RFDS uses advanced aviation and medical technology to deliver vital care where traditional services are unavailable. 

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

There is a particular kind of magic in a resident's face lighting up over something as small as a shared joke or a genuine "are you okay?" For Nurse Fiona, that is the whole point of aged care. In this episode, we sit down with Fiona to talk about what it really looks like to lead with warmth, humour and presence in a sector too often misunderstood as easy, quiet work.

Fiona takes us from her first placement through to agency nursing in London, navigating rigid hierarchies along the way before returning to the reason she keeps coming back to the bedside: the people. She talks candidly about the hidden cost of paperwork and box-ticking, the loneliness that can come with contract work and moving city to city, and the flexibility and curiosity it takes to build community wherever she lands.

It is a conversation that says a lot about where aged care careers can take you, and what they ask of the people who choose them. 

Fiona's organisation of choice is Orange Sky, an Australian not-for-profit supporting people experiencing homelessness and hardship through access to free laundry, warm showers and genuine conversation.

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

For International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day, Dr Sarah Jane Springer returns for this bonus episode as a DrinkWise ambassador, to talk about something she believes deserves clearer, kinder conversation: alcohol and pregnancy. 

Dr Sarah Jane discusses what FASD can mean for a child's development, why the messaging around alcohol and pregnancy has not always reached the people who need it most, and why she believes real change starts with clinicians creating a safe, non-judgmental space for women to be honest about what they are going through. She also speaks openly about culture and community, and why this has never been an issue that belongs to one group of people.

Sarah Jane is a proud Wiradjuri woman, a mother and a GP obstetrician who has spent over two decades caring for women and babies across rural and remote Australia. She first joined Sam and Kate on Episode 37.

Additional Resources:

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Program, DrinkWise
• Every Moment Matters: Find out about FASD
• 13YARN, 24/7 crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, call 13 92 76

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

Kate Chapman didn't finish school. She left in Year 8, became a nurse at 32, and built a career on one simple belief: people deserve the same standard of care no matter where they live or who they are. That belief has carried her from humanitarian work with Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Cross, to Remote Area Nursing across some of Australia's most isolated communities. 

In this episode, Kate unpacks what Remote Area Nursing actually looks like day to day: the trust built one conversation at a time, the cultural knowledge that has to be earned, and the deep sense of purpose that keeps her coming back to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. She talks candidly about cultural safety, autonomy, and why lived experience matters more than tick-box rules when you're the only clinician for hundreds of kilometres. She also shares the story behind Gayle's Law, and why she's still pushing for safer working conditions for the RANs who come after her.

Kate's organisation of choice is Street Side Medics. Street Side Medics' purpose is to bring free, judgement-free healthcare directly to people experiencing homelessness, meeting them where they are through a mobile medical centre rather than waiting for them to walk through a clinic door.

Content Warning: This episode touches on sexual assault and violence. Please take care while listening. 

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

Eighteen months ago, Steph Moore was working full time as a nurse and packing scrub orders from her garage between shifts. Today she's the founder of Hey Sister Scrub Club, a fun scrubs brand that's become a fan favourite with Aussie nurses and a runner-up for Rookie of the Year at the SheComm E-Commerce Awards.

Steph opens up about the imposter syndrome that shaped both her nursing career and her business, from feeling like she hadn't earned the right to wear fun scrubs as a grad, to wondering who she was to launch a brand at all. She reflects candidly on the hospital admission that led her into nursing in the first place, the nurse whose advocacy changed everything, and how that same instinct to connect with patients became the reason fun scrubs mattered to her. She also talks openly about building a business while working clinically and raising three kids and why staying close to the ward keeps the brand honest.

Steph's organisation of choice is the McGrath Foundation. The McGrath Foundation's purpose is to ensure that no one goes through cancer without the care of a McGrath Cancer Care Nurse. We raise money to fund McGrath Cancer Care Nurses right across Australia and deliver world leading cancer nursing services to support people and their families through cancer. 

Follow Hey Sister Scrub Club on Instagram!

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

What happens when the identity you’ve built your whole life around no longer fits? In this episode of It Takes Heart, Jana Pittman shares her extraordinary journey from world champion Olympian to doctor, mother of six and passionate advocate for women’s health. With honesty and warmth, Jana reflects on injury, public pressure and the moments that pushed her towards reinvention and a new sense of purpose beyond elite sport.

Jana opens up about how missing the Olympic Games led her to pursue medicine and eventually specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology. She also shares what working in women’s health has taught her about trust, empathy and having the conversations many women still find difficult.

This episode is for anyone navigating a career change, rebuilding after disappointment or searching for meaning in a new chapter. Jana Pittman’s story shows how reinvention can open the door to a life that feels just as meaningful as the one you first imagined.

Content warning: This episode includes discussions of miscarriage, stillbirth and pregnancy loss.

Jana's organisation of choice is the Australian Gynaecological Cancer Foundation (AGCF), a national not-for-profit organisation that focuses on funding laboratory research into all 8 gynae cancers.

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

What happens when a career built on survival slowly becomes a career built on purpose? For Dr Wayne Lee, a GP now practising in Brisbane, that shift is at the heart of a story spanning three countries, a musical childhood and a leap into practice ownership.

Dr Wayne opens up about why he chose medicine over a music career for reasons that were more about supporting his family than chasing passion, and how that early decision shaped the way he has approached every chapter since. He reflects candidly on burnout in traditional general practice, the moment he realised a stable, routine career wasn't feeding him the way he expected, and how locum work in rural and remote Australia reignited his sense of purpose. 

He also speaks honestly about imposter syndrome, not as something he overcame once, but as a constant companion through fellowship, remote clinical work and now practice ownership, and how learning to sit with it, rather than fight it, became one of his greatest strengths.

Wayne's organisation of choice, the Push for Better Foundation, raises awareness and engages people in mental health through connection, education and health and wellbeing. 

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment

What if specialist healthcare could roll into town, instead of patients travelling hundreds of kilometres to find it? For Dr Rolf Gomes, 2026 Queensland Australian of the Year and founder of Heart of Australia, that question sparked a life-changing idea: mobile health clinics bringing cardiology, radiology, respiratory care and specialist services directly to rural and remote communities.

Rolf shares how his journey from Calcutta to Melbourne, electrical engineering to cardiology, and city hospitals to the Queensland bush shaped the way he sees healthcare access. He reflects on the rural placements that opened his eyes to serious symptoms, limited local options, and the barriers of distance, cost and fear that stop many country patients from seeking care.

We also explore what practical healthcare innovation really looks like, from mobile CT scanners and cardiac testing on wheels to building trust through regular visits and making it easier for busy specialists to contribute. This episode is for anyone who cares about rural health, healthcare equity, and the kind of big-hearted innovation that helps every community feel seen.

Dr Rolf's organisation of choice is Heart of Australia, a mobile healthcare company delivering access to specialists and testing equipment to rural and remote people in Australia.

It Takes Heart is hosted by cmr’s Samantha Miklos and Kate Coomber and recorded at cmr’s head office in Brisbane.

We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso

Get to know It Takes Heart & cmr better!
Instagram: @ittakesheartpodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
YouTube: @ItTakesHeartPodcast and @cornerstonemedicalrecruitment
TikTok: @cornerstonemedicalrec
LinkedIn: @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment
Facebook: @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment