Snowy Hydro SouthCare

The Capital Region Retrieval Service (CRRS) doctors who work on the Snowy Hydro SouthCare Rescue Helicopter are specialists in the fields of anaesthesia, intensive care medicine, emergency medicine and surgery.

The Doctors are based at The Canberra Hospital and work both in their designated specialty area and the Snowy Hydro SouthCare Rescue Helicopter. The Doctors provide 24/7 medical coverage and are key to providing an aeromedical coordinated system approach to the care of critically ill & injured patient’s throughout the ACT and Southern NSW. The Doctors are dedicated to supporting their rural colleagues through the provision of a consultation and retrieval service. They ensure the highest quality of care is provided to all their patients in both the pre-hospital and hospital setting and they all enjoy the unique challenges of working in a retrieval service environment.

 

 

Name	Specialty
Dr Kelvin Grove: Director Capital Region Retrieval Service	Staff Specialist in Intensive Care Medicine
Dr David Lamond: Deputy Director Capital Region Retrieval Service	Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine
Dr Greg Hollis: Director Emergency Department	Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine
Dr Andrew Singer	Staff Specialist in Emergency Medicine
Dr Simon Robertson	Staff Specialist in Anaesthesia / Intensive care Medicine
Dr John Ellingham	VMO Specialist in Anaesthesia
Dr Ross Peake	VMO Specialist in Anaesthesia
Dr Michael Natale	Senior Registrar in Emergency Department
Dr James Falconer	Staff Specialist in Emergency Department
Dr Jane Trevenen	Senior Registrar in Intensive Care Medicine

 

DOCTOR PROFILE: DR GREG HOLLIS

After 17 years in medicine, Dr Greg Hollis has spent the last seven years working in emergency medicine at The Canberra Hospital and with Snowy Hydro SouthCare. His work includes everything from clinical work to teaching, to administrative duties and being on call for a 24-hour Snowy Hydro SouthCare shift each week.

In addition to Greg's extensive medical training in critical care, life-support, trauma care and retrieval, he has also completed helicopter safety training and worked full-time for six-months with another helicopter service before coming to work with Snowy Hydro SouthCare.

Patient retrieval is of particular interest to Greg and is where emergency medicine and Snowy Hydro SouthCare meet most frequently. 70% of Snowy Hydro SouthCare missions are retrieval missions, also known as secondary missions. Secondary missions are when patients in need of urgent specialised care are transported to a hospital that can offer the care they need. Because most patients involved in secondary missions are in critical condition, having a doctor on board is extremely important. In secondary missions, "the most important thing is not the vehicle-its what the patient needs, when they need it, and where they need to go," says Greg.

Greg is part of a highly-skilled and dedicated team that complete an average of approximately two life-saving missions everyday - and he loves it. As Greg says, "It's great, I enjoy retrieval a lot. It is very different to normal emergency department work. At the hospital, we have 30-40 patients we are responsible for - on the helicopter, you are responsible for one. It is different to most of your working time."

In addition to enjoying his work, Greg also takes pride in each mission he does, having kept his own personal spreadsheet of the hundreds of missions he has completed throughout his career. As Greg puts it, the best part about retrieval work is "The teamwork involved and the privilege of working with people that are very good at what they do. Bringing together a pilot, aircrewman, paramedic and doctor-they each have very different skills that make the mission work well."