Interns turn livesavers

By Shaun Inguanzo
A HOLIDAY turned to horror for two new Dandenong Hospital interns after a freak storm killed Swedish tourists and left others unconscious.
Lauren Bourke and Michelle Gould were supposed to be relaxing and partying on the Thai beach of Ko Phangan last month before commencing their posts as hospital interns with Dandenong Hospital operator Southern Health.
But when six Swedish tourists were swept away by large waves on the beach, leaving several unconscious and others dead, the interns were faced with their first reallife emergency – well before their first day at work.
Ms Bourke said her younger sister, who was on the beach at the time, phoned her once she heard a group surrounding the injured tourists screaming for help.
Ms Bourke said she raced from her bungalow to the scene, and fought her way to the front of a growing and frenzied crowd.
“I said to someone I was a doctor and I got pushed forward to the front of the crowd,” Ms Bourke said.
“People were doing CPR (on the tourists), but I said I was a doctor and I tried to take order.
“But the people doing CPR kept going … I just wanted to get (the tourists) to a better facility.”
Of the six tourists, two were announced dead at the scene after being found face down in the water after what was believed to be five minutes without oxygen.
Two escaped with shock and psychological trauma, while two others had water in their lungs and required resuscitation, Ms Bourke said.
She arranged for a makeshift ambulance – the tray of a ute – and transported several of the tourists, including a dead body, to a nearby but underresourced medical clinic where she and a Thai doctor fought to resuscitate the tourists.
She said there was no proper resuscitation equipment on hand, and she could only perform basic CPR.
With body after body being brought to the clinic, Ms Bourke reached breaking point and urged the Thai doctor to call her fellow interns, including Ms Gould, to rush to the clinic and assist in resuscitating the tourists.
Throughout the ordeal, Ms Bourke said Thai residents were taking photographs, creating more stress for the interns. “The Thai people were running around taking photos. It was just horrific,” she said.
The fourhour ordeal ended once the two unconscious tourists were revived and transported to the island’s only hospital.
The two traumatised tourists were given sleeping tablets to help them through the first night of contemplating life without their friends.
Southern Health has also provided debriefing sessions for the two interns.
Victorian Health Minister Bronwyn Pike this week visited the girls who have since commenced their internships at the Dandenong Hospital and also the Monash Medical Centre, in Clayton.
She praised their skill and ability to perform in ‘the most dramatic of circumstances’.