“As a child, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I still have a little book that I wrote when I was six years old that says I wanted to ‘help sick people, be in helicopters and help people who crashed their cars’.
It may sound cliché, but I am definitely living my dream.
I’m an emergency physician in both adult and children’s emergency rooms, splitting my time between Starship and the Auckland City Hospital. I also work with the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust (ARHT) as an emergency medicine doctor.
My work is challenging, but it’s also incredibly rewarding.
I joined the team at ARHT 12 months ago and it’s been fantastic. I have at least two days a month on the helicopter service, where I work alongside pilots, critical care doctors and intensive care paramedics to rescue people in need.
I love meeting people from all walks of life – it’s quite different seeing them in an external environment as opposed to a hospital bed. Plus, New Zealand is an amazing place to fly around!
One of the most interesting cases for me was a Piha rescue last year that had a really good outcome.
A young girl who had drowned and gone into cardiac arrest on the beach ended up going home alive and well, thanks to a bystander performing CPR, as well as excellent support from police and lifeguards before we arrived, and the great work from my team when we were dropped in.
It only took us about six minutes to get to her from the time of the call, but that time is precious.
Heidi with her children, George and identical twins, Minnie and Bessie.
It’s those positive outcomes that leave you feeling pretty high on life, but of course it’s not always like that.
When things don’t go well, it’s very humbling and it reminds me to make the most of every single day.
Having grown up on a sheep farm in rural Victoria, Australia, I know how important it is to have access to healthcare in an area that’s geographically challenging. We attend a lot of farm and rural accidents and it’s important to be able to offer this service to get help to those people.
Where I grew up, we didn’t have that facility – if there was an accident, it was a long drive for an ambulance from the nearest town to find a person injured in a paddock somewhere.
The work ARHT does is vital and truly can mean the difference between life and death.
The harsh reality of our own mortality is something I had to get used to from a very young age – I used to stand between my dad and the sheep when it came time to put them down. Unsurprisingly, I’m a vegetarian and I have been since I left home at 18!
It took a long time to get to where I am today – I studied as a paediatrician in Victoria before moving to New Zealand 11 years ago to retrain in adult and paediatric emergency medicine.
All up, I spent 15 years studying and sat my last set of exams in 2010.
Of course during this time I was also working and I did a lot of travelling too.
I’ve been to Nepal and Sri Lanka, and also went bobsledding in northern Sweden for my 30th birthday which was amazing. At minus 30 degrees, it was the coldest I’d been in my entire life but the landscape was spectacular.
I love the outdoors and that’s one of the reasons I was inspired to come to New Zealand.
When I was about 12 years old, I used to watch a programme called White Water Sports that would profile the Coast to Coast event, and I used to think, ‘Wow, that’s where I want to be!’
I love trail running and New Zealand has some incredible tracks – I’ve done the Coast to Coast and other multi-sport events. Running is like meditation for me, I’ve made many life decisions while out in the bush somewhere.
It’s also how I met my husband Julien.
He belonged to a multisport training group that I joined shortly after arriving in New Zealand. We both love the outdoors, however when it comes to emergency medicine, he’d prefer to leave me to it!
Julien faints at the sight of blood, but he’s incredibly supportive of the work I do and encouraged me to re-train in emergency medicine.
We have three children, George (5) and identical twins, Minnie and Bessie (4). Life is a bit different now with children – I don’t get out running quite as much as I used to and travelling is a bit more difficult these days, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I used to think, ‘How can I combine my love of medicine, flying and living somewhere beautiful with having children and being active?’ I feel really lucky that I’ve ended up able to! I pinch myself every day and wonder how I got so lucky.”
Each mission costs, on average, $7000. To donate $3 to Westpac Rescue Helicopter, text CHOPPER to 8663.
Quick fire
The last movie I watched was… “Hunt for the Wilderpeople.” I don’t usually watch mainstream films
– I go for more arthouse, drama-type stuff, which infuriates my husband, but I recommend it!
My go-to meal is… As a vegetarian, my comfort food is dahl or any type of Indian food. I’d love to travel to India – that’s on the bucket list, but I think that will
wait until the kids are much older!
I like to unwind by… Spending time with family and running.
Code:1, TV One, Mondays at 8pm.
As told to Ellen Dorset
