LifeFlight has bolstered its commitment to Queenslanders, with 33 new critical care doctors ready to provide life-saving aeromedical care across the state.
Prior to starting, the new doctors underwent a week of intensive aeromedical training at the LifeFlight Training Academy at Brisbane Airport to get them rescue ready.
The new retrieval registrars have headed to work in regions across the state, including the Darling Downs, Sunshine Coast, Wide-Bay Burnett, Maranoa, North Queensland and Brisbane.
Doctor Bassim Jebeili is one of eight new critical care doctors to join the LifeFlight Brisbane crew.
He said his connection with aeromedicine started when a retrieval service saved his life at only four years old.
“I grew up in a very small town in the Northern Territory and I accidentally broke a window inside my house and cut my right arm,” Dr Jebeili said.
“There was a lot of bleeding and being so far away from any tertiary hospital, we had to have a retrieval team come and get me.
“Retrieval medicine and a service like LifeFlight is incredible and I am here because of that.”
Doctor Mathilde Enevoldsen swapped snowy Denmark for North Queensland’s humidity, as one of five new doctors to join the Townsville base.
She first realised she wanted to work for an aeromedical service in Australia 16 years ago, after a brief stint at a Mount Isa cattle station.
“The day before I got there, the farmer I was working for was trampled by a cow,” Dr Enevoldsen said.
“He came and picked me up and he was definitely in a lot of pain. We had to take him to the hospital. Turns out, he had broken all the ribs on one side.
“Luckily, he was able to go by car, but it got me thinking. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to work for the helicopter services here in Australia.”
The new critical care doctor said she was looking forward to some sunshine after minus 15-degree weather in Denmark.
“I’m really looking forward to another climate even though they tell me I’m going to boil alive up there. It’s going to be interesting,” Dr Enevoldsen said.
From Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET) and sea survival to rescue winching and clinical scenarios, the program put the new doctors through their paces to get them mission ready from day one.
LifeFlight HUET Manager Mick Dowling said the specialised training provided the necessary skills to aid the doctors while working onboard a helicopter.
“Our mission is to have the doctors skilled with the confidence to be able to deal with any aviation situation that they may be faced with,” he said.
“The common response we get from them after the completion is that it was challenging and uncomfortable, but overall, an amazing experience.
“It’s highly unlikely the aircraft will be required to be ditched into the water, however all crew are trained should they face that situation.”
After being tumbled upside down through the water and learning how to survive out on the open water, the doctors were taken through winching procedures.
LifeFlight Deputy Chief Aircrew Officer Todd Seymour said the winch training prepared them for the unpredictability of the role.
“The doctors learn multiple exercises. They learn how to be winched out of the aircraft by themselves, how to be winched out of the aircraft with a rescue crewman or paramedic and learn how to accompany a stretcher into the aircraft,” he said.
“They’re going to remote areas across Queensland and they could be in dense bushland or out to sea off a cruise ship, so it’s important they’re delivered the training they need to perform these roles to a high and safe standard.
“No two days are the same for us at LifeFlight.”
The doctors also had their clinical skills pushed to the limit at the Queensland Combined Emergency Services Academy, with realistic simulated scenarios such as a multi-vehicle collision.
The new recruits were also taught how to extract a patient from a road accident by Queensland Fire Department (QFD) personnel.
LifeFlight employs more than 180 medical professionals, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, making it Australia’s largest employer of aeromedical doctors.
LifeFlight came to the aid of 8,838 Queenslanders in 2025 – 4.2 per cent higher than the previous year.
The majority of LifeFlight critical care doctors’ work is performed on behalf of Queensland Health, tasked by Retrieval Services Queensland, within Queensland Ambulance Service.
