Cliff Reid is a Doctor and Specialist who works in both emergency and intensive care as well as pre-hospital retrieval medicine.

To put it simply, Cliff provides emergency care to people who experience sudden unexpected extreme forms of physical suffering.

I got the chance to meet Cliff out at the brand new multi-million dollar Helicopter base at Bankstown airport which not only dispatches several helicopters and fixed wing aircraft for the entire state of New South Wales but also a road team that services large areas of Sydney.

The facility also has a large training centre which Cliff is also the Director in charge. This facility is filled with training rooms that replicate various real world medical environments including emergency rooms filled with mannequin patients (often also using real life actors) and also a wave pool that simulates helicopter crashes in ocean water with a fuselage being dropped into a deep pool with heavy waves. Personnel are constantly challenged to ensure they can  successfully free themselves from the cabin in treacherous conditions.

In some cases, the training provided to the team links to highly unlikely events, however the continual preparation and readiness for these situations are critical to those split second moments that could mean life or death.

I sat down with Cliff to chat about his journey through medicine, his early interests in science (well, science fiction to begin with), working as a junior in the UK, relocating to Australia and the focus he has placed on resuscitation to train other physicians to continue to provide a higher standard of care for patients that continues to progress and evolve.

For those of you who are crossing your fingers, yes Cliff shares a couple of gory stories of what they have to do at times to keep patients alive. While these stories are definitely amazing, the more impressive parts of my chat with Cliff are around the level of training, preparation and care that goes into looking after their team. If the team is supported both in psychical skill and as well as psychologically, then they are able to continue to deliver a high standard of care for those patients in urgent need.

It’s often said and thought of as a bit of a cliche but these guys are the real superheroes. While it’s completely justified to idolise people in entertainment and sport for their qualities and achievements, I think we should continue to search out inspiring people like Cliff who work with complete dedication to take care of us when in need. I will certainly do my part to highlight more of these impressive people through the podcast as well as in my everyday life.

You can follow Cliff on Twitter and check out his Resus website to learn more about what he is all about.

Show notes

Follow Cliff Reid on Twitter.
Check out Cliff’s Resus (Cutting Edge Resuscitation Medicine) website HERE.
Blog post by Cliff: The Area Under the Suffering Curve
Blog post by Cliff: No Picnic? Really?
Book recommendation: Richard Branson – Losing My Virginity
Book recommendation: Steven Covey – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
What is ECMO?
Article – ECMO at The Louvre

Check out episodes 35 with Sinclair Newey and 36 with Mick Goddard who have both had experience with an ECMO machine.
Want to support Mick Goddard’s son Kai and their family? Pick up a copy of Kingdom of Kai for your CD/metal collection!