I’m a final year medical student from the Peninsula Medical
School in the south west of England I am 22 and originally from Ynys Mon,
an island off the north coast of Wales. As part of my training to be a
doctor I am allowed to go on an elective to go abroad to work in healthcare
for two months.Having been brought up in rural North Wales, I am a great lover of the outdoors. At the age of 17 I joined one of the local search and rescue teams of HM Coastguard. With this team we did shore-based search and rescues, mud rescues and, my favourite, cliff rescues. When it came to planning my elective I wanted to incorporate my interest in search and rescue into my experience.
I chose New Zealand because of its excellent reputation abroad for being friendly and passionate about sport and the great outdoors. I then met a doctor who had spent her elective with the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter Trust. She eagerly recommended that I get in touch with Noel Watson to organise my elective.
The crew here is very friendly and we have attended some interesting rescues. Some have been major trauma following MVAs, others have been search and rescue jobs and marine winch rescues. I have also been involved in a patient transfer to Wellington in the fixed wing air ambulance. I have now been in New Zealand for two weeks and love it.
