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A passion for regional medicine Surgical News talks to mother and daughter team, Dr Roxanne Wu and Dr Helen Buschel
Dr Roxanne Wu and her daughter Dr Helen Buschel are two dedicated doctors who love living and working in their regional communities. Roxanne Wu is an experienced and highly regarded vascular surgeon, and the Head of Surgery at Cairns Hospital. Helen is just about to start her six-year general paediatric surgical training at Townsville Hospital, where she has already worked for the last four years after growing up and completing medical school in Cairns. “I’m very excited to be returning to Townsville”, Helen said. “When I was first balloted to Townsville as an intern, I was very disappointed, and I planned to move as soon as I finished the first 12 months. But I absolutely loved it and chose to stay for four years.” After Helen completes the first year of the surgical training program in Townsville, she will be sent all over Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand over the course of the program—something she is looking forward to. Roxanne’s ‘love affair’ with regional medicine started in the 1980s. She was training at the Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, and like all surgical Trainees at that time, was required to complete a sixmonth rotation in Papua New Guinea (PNG). “I didn’t want to go to PNG,” recalls Roxanne, “and I usually got what I wanted, but not on that occasion. But I actually enjoyed it there. I had a fantastic time,” she said. “It was in PNG that I discovered that I could do surgery and also have my own life.”
Roxanne spoke about the joy of learning to dive during her hectic surgery schedule; she knew that she wanted to continue leading a life that enabled her to have that kind of balance. “Back in Sydney, they wanted me to become a liver transplant surgeon, but I knew that if I went down that path, I wouldn’t have a life,” she said. Roxanne knew that she also wanted to have a family and was determined to pursue a career in surgery and become a mum. When the opportunity to return to PNG as a locum for six months presented itself, Roxanne jumped at the chance. She went on to join the surgical team in Cairns straight after PNG. “This was a real example of opportunity knocks,” said Roxanne, who decided early on in her career that it was best not to over-plan or control her life, but rather to recognise and take opportunities as they arose. “You never know where these opportunities are going to lead,” she said. “I’ve never regretted making the move for a moment.”
Roxanne and Helen both value the unique opportunities that working in regional areas provides. “I love living and working in a regional area,” explained Helen. “Being an intern in a regional hospital was great. I had a lot of support there and felt like I was an essential part of the core team. I was able to spend time in theatre, working on emergency cases. I got involved in research and had a lot of responsibility,” she said. “I also loved the sense of community. By the end of my first year in Townsville, I felt like I knew almost everyone at the hospital, and they’d become like family,” she recalls. For Roxanne, along with the diversity of medicine and surgery—that you can experience in a regional hospital—it’s the opportunity to introduce new fields of thinking and practice to meet the unique needs of the community that holds great appeal. “I’ve been able to bring all the advances of vascular surgery to a community that would otherwise not have access to it,” she explains. “And that’s the thing about regional medicine and regional surgery. You become a vital part of health delivery, not just another cog in the wheel. It’s immensely satisfying to be able to have that kind of impact,” she said. Roxanne would like to see more young surgeons consider working in remote locations. “In a place like Cairns, we have medical situations related to the amazing local wildlife— crocodile attacks, moray eel attacks, and so on. And, being in the tropics, we also have unusual tropical diseases.” She is proud to have been closely involved in the
