The doctor I was meant to be — Dr Louis Christie, Emergency come Palliative Care Specialist

One of the first NSW Rural Doctors Network (RDN) cadets in NSW,
Dr Louis Christie only intended staying in Orange in Central NSW
for a couple of years, but he found it far too attractive, both
personally and professionally, to leave. He’d quickly made
friends in the welcoming community and fell for the regional
lifestyle.


After identifying the need for an emergency physician in the
area, he launched into a speciality that saw him develop a wide
clinical competence, as he, among other things, crossed the state
in the CareFlight helicopter. Emergency medicine had everything
Dr Christie wanted in a career: it was intellectually rigorous
and allowed him to follow his ambition to be a rock for patients
and their families in times of crisis. But young men can think of
themselves as bulletproof and working under high pressure for a
service in its then infancy eventually took a personal toll, so
he says he needed to find an alternative.


It was while he was working briefly in hospital administration
that a wise mentor directed him toward palliative care. Here was
another speciality that allowed him challenging clinical decision
making at the same time as engaging with people — patients and
their families — at what could be the worst time of their lives.
He could still make an intolerable situation better. Dr Christie
says palliative allowed him to be the doctor he was meant to
be. 


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