Flying Doctor

[Jane]

Okay.  In the loooong Interval just ended could there be a case for a Flying Doctor style service using dragons and healers and transport to and from the/a Healer Hall?

I'm wanting to work up a submission on something along those lines, but want to see if our senior members think it was plausible or, indeed, if any of them have used such a thing in their posts or histories.

[Eimi]

I think it would have been highly unlikely for there to have been such a service in place.  First of all, the Hall and Weyr would not have had much of a connection during the interval.  They would have had to have paid for any transport services since that probably would have been the way the dragonrider made their living, so it would have been rather expensive.  I'm sure from time to time a healer did hire a dragonrider to transport them, but it would not have been a usual practice because of the expense involved.

If you are wondering how the out-lying areas were able to find medical help, chances are there was a healer within a day or two's travel and they relied on them for their medical emergencies, but the rest of the time relied on their own knowledge of herbs and medicine (as unskilled as it was).  Think of how it would have been when settlers first started settling the land in America, Australia, New Zealand, etc.  They had to rely on themselves for the most part, but would seek help and hope for the best in emergencies.  They could make it to the Healer and the healer could send word to the Hall that they needed expert help to be flown in, but again, it would be expensive and probably only used when absolutely necessary.