A bus carrying 30 tourists on their way to the 12 Apostles, veered off the road and crashed close to Apollo Bay last month. Fortunately, Dr Lesley Cadzow, who was placed by RWAV at Otway Health, was on-call and able to assist the injured travellers. Dr Lesley said she “was proud, as a newly-arrived locum doctor, to be part of this sensitive care for a group of very frightened tourists.”
Police and paramedics gathered from towns all around and the most critically injured were dispatched immediately from the scene to a trauma centre. That still left many with lesser injuries needing a place of warmth and safety. This occurred seamlessly at Otway Health, the urgent care centre in Apollo Bay, where the expertise of the nursing staff augmented the amazing triage by ambulance officers assisted by the police.
A majority of the tourists were from Taiwan and fortunately a Mandarin-speaking nurse was able to interact with the injured as well assist the medical team and police with the language barrier.
Dr Cadzow said “a policeman offered a hungry little boy toy cars to play with, then rushed home to collect some nappies, while the pharmacist opened shop to supply baby milk. At 10.30 pm, the local pub cooked up about 30 pizzas for people in shock, knowing that food and a warm drink helps at times like these.”
This community she says “has a wonderful team of very skilled professionals who should be highly commended for doing exactly what was needed when needed.”
Otway Health urgently need ongoing GP locums to cover their urgent care and on-call roster on weekdays until a permanent solution is found. If you are interested please contact RWAV on 03 9349 7800 or email locum@rwav.com.au
