Doctors train to join air ambulance team

Twenty-five new RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Critical Care Doctors jumped on board Queensland's rescue choppers and jets, ready to bring advanced medical care to sick or injured patients, often in some of the state’s most challenging locations. The course was run by LIfeFlight doctors, aircrew officers and trainers.

“These doctors are here working for us because they are very experienced doctors, they’re top of their field sort of people, but they’re here doing something they haven’t done before,” RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Chief Aircrew Officer Simon Gray said.

“In the highly unlikely event of a helicopter going into the water, it’s going to roll over and flood with water," LifeFlight HUET Manager Mick Dowling said. “These doctors are going to have seconds to locate exits, operate exits and get themselves out, so the training’s developed to give them the skills to be able to do that and to stay orientated.”

Training simulated emergency events

Back at the Queensland Combined Emergency Services Academy on Whyte Island , the doctors were put through their paces in a series of simulated emergency scenes they may come across while on the job.. They were faced with some of the confronting realities of pre-hospital care in scenarios including a wild house party where a child had ingested drugs, another where a worker had been injured in a confined space on a ship and a fatal car crash.

"There’s some challenges you get out in the field that you just don’t get in the hospital setting and you’ve really got to adapt,” recruit Steve McElroy said. “Yyou’ve got such a tight team to work with, so it’s going to be great working with the aircrew, the pilots, the paramedics, both in the air and on the ground." another of the new said.

The 25 retrieval registrars will take to the air from bases across Queensland – including on aircraft operated by RACQ LifeFlight Rescue and Queensland Government Air.

Meanwhile, almost 350 people received lifesaving care in Townsville, Australia, thanks to RACQ LifeFlight’s rescue jet crew in 2020 – the most patients in the service’s 12-year history.