It was love that kept Doctor Bilge (Kaan) Dikici in Toowoomba and now he’s staying put.
As one of LifeFlight’s newest retrieval registrars he intended staying for just six months, but the city had other plans.
“I initially only travelled there to work and I fell in love with Toowoomba. It will be my indefinite home,” he said.
Dr Dikici said his passion for rural and regional medicine made him a great fit for serving the community from the Toowoomba and Roma bases.
“Living in a regional area is very different from the city because patients have to travel vast distances to seek medical treatment,” he said.
“This is why LifeFlight is so important because we can get to patients much faster and transport them to major hospitals, often for life-saving treatment.”
Dr Dikici said the level of training he’s received in preparation for the role has been outstanding, with Helicopter Underwater Escape Training being ‘bucket loads of fun’.
“The instructors have been great and very patient with us and the decades of experience really does shine through,” he said.
“I feel very excited about the potential winching missions. I know the training that is provided by LifeFlight and from the aircrew on that day, that I will be safe and I will complete my mission with success.”
Dr Dikici joins fellow doctors Dr Angus Douglas and Dr James Harris at aeromedical teams based at Toowoomba and Roma.
The trio make up 28 doctors about to support communities across Queensland. Before heading out to help people in remote and rural areas, they underwent a week of intensive aeromedical training at the LifeFlight Training Academy.
The specialised training of Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET), sea survival, rescue winching and clinical scenario training, will enable the new doctors to tackle whatever challenges they may face in the field.
More than 180 medical professionals, including doctors, are employed by LifeFlight, making it Australia’s largest employer of aeromedical doctors.
LifeFlight HUET manager Mick Dowling, said 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 said.
“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.”
After the doctors were thoroughly dunked, spun, lifted from the water and taught how to survive at sea, they headed to the LifeFlight Clive Berghofer Maintenance Centre for winch training.
LifeFlight training and checking aircrew officer Todd Seymour, said winch training is a crucial part of the job that prepares the new doctors for the unpredictability of the role.
“No two days are the same for us at LifeFlight,” he said.
“The doctors learn emergency checks around the aircraft, winch statics in the hangar and then we go out and put those statics into practice on the field.
“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.
“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.”
The doctors had their clinical skills pushed to the limit at the Queensland Combined Emergency Services Academy, with realistic simulated scenarios in a ship, ambulance, multi-vehicle collision and house party setting.
The new recruits were also taught how to extract a patient from a road accident by Queensland Fire Department (QFD) personnel.
LifeFlight came to the aid of 8,477 Queenslanders in 2024 -13 per cent higher than the previous year.
Toowoomba is LifeFlight’s busiest base with the LifeFlight rescue and LifeFlight Surat Gas Aeromedical Service (SGAS) helicopter crews coming to the aid of a record 905 people in 2024.
The Roma SGAS crew, based at the Clive Berghofer LifeFlight Centre, helped 59 people.
The SGAS partners generously donate 150 flying hours each year to assure the Toowoomba and Roma communities of aeromedical coverage.
The majority of LifeFlight critical care doctors’ work is performed on behalf of Queensland Health, tasked by Retrieval Services Queensland, within Queensland Ambulance Service.
