Bushfire doctor shows value of locum work
Along the way she has experienced minus-50 degree winters, patched up burns victims and run clinics in remote North American Indian settlements. Now practising as a GP on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula, she still spends two days a month as a rural locum because she enjoys the change of pace. "Locum work keeps me going because it is diverse and challenging," she says. "It is also a good way to hone your skills while providing an essential service to small towns where the local doctor needs a break." Dr White's locum work is part of a personal commitment to assist the recovery of bushfire victims in Victoria. She is one of eight locum GPs operating from a clinic in Kinglake that services surrounding fire-affected communities. She moved to Victoria from New South Wales in 2009 after volunteering to help survivors of the Black Saturday fires. "Patients needed treatment for wounds, breathing difficulties and irritated eyes," she recalls. "Most of all, though, people were completely shell-shocked ... and that can take a long time to heal." Before coming to Australia, the Canadian-trained Dr White completed her medical studies at the University of Calgary. She then took up a locum posting in Dawson City, a remote Yukon town of 1200 people about 600km from the nearest hospital. "The work was both challenging and rewarding, plus it taught me to be very independent," Dr White says. "My clinical skills improved markedly. While this rural locum was supposed to be just a few months of experience, it ended up being five adventurous years that certainly furthered my career and ultimately changed how I practise medicine." PHOTO: Patient with a difference ... Dr White is pictured with a wombat that was brought in for treatment after the bushfires. With not vets available in her area in the immediate aftermath of the fires, doctors had to deal with the occasional wounded animal.
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