After years of medical training and eight days of intense emergency procedures, Doctor Raj Arora has officially joined the LifeFlight team in Bundaberg.
Dr Arora has never been to Bundaberg before landing the role, but his excitement to serve the community has him working across two regional medical services.
“I’ve never been to Bundaberg, but I’ve definitely crossed it on the way to Agnes Waters and the town of 1770. I’ve seen pictures and the beaches look amazing. I’m really looking forward to it,” he says.
Dr Arora moved from India to Australia in 2008, completing his high school education in Sydney before attending Griffith University.
He’ll split his time between Bundaberg Hospital and LifeFlight, helping people in the Wide Bay-Burnett region and beyond.
“In emergency, everyone is there to help you, and things just get done, whereas in LifeFlight it’s just you and the nurse or paramedic and you’re out there helping the patient. It’s a really good mix of options,” Dr Arora says.
He’s one of 28 doctors set to support communities across Queensland as part of a new recruitment effort.
LifeFlight HUET manager Mick Dowling, says the doctors are trained in scenarios to teach them the primary escape points of an aircraft rapidly filling with water, including simulated darkness.
“It’s important the doctors complete this training to develop escape skills that can then be transferred into an operating aircraft they are working on,” he says.
“It is highly unlikely the aircraft will be in a ditching incident, but aviation best practice requires aviators who are flying over water to complete the HUET training.”
The new recruits were also taught how to extract a patient from a road accident by Queensland Fire Department (QFD) personnel.
