Meet a member – Dr Ulrich and Sabine Orda

In their first decade in Australia, the pair managed to turn Mount Isa into a key training ground for rural doctors and have since worked tirelessly to maintain and build upon this remarkable status.

Ulrich and Sabine moved to Australia with their children in the late 2000s in pursuit of change and better working conditions.

“In Germany it has become increasingly difficult to make your way if you want to provide good care for your patients. A strongly underfunded system is the problem – it made healthcare so onerous,” Ulrich said.

“We had a diabetes centre where we treated about 200 people with a diabetic foot syndrome every year. We had 100 people with insulin pumps from the age of seven months to older adults with type one diabetes. Their medication and medical supplies cost a lot of money, and budgets were enforced for what you were allowed to prescribe.

“At the end of every quarter they checked your budget, and every quarter, they wanted roughly a million dollars back because they said – you're over budget. Then we had to spend hours writing reasons for why every prescription that they deemed over budget was necessary for the patient.

“We began wondering whether that was a good way to do medicine and to work long term, and we thought an alternative would be pretty good, or to at least try it and see how it works.”

Although their first impression of outback Australia began with doubts – overwhelmed by the expansive dusty land of the mining community that directly contrasted their life in Germany - these doubts quickly dissipated on arrival.

“We very quickly found out that Mount Isa is a very, very lovely community. The whole place was so welcoming and so friendly that we quickly decided we wanted to give it a go,” Sabine said.

Despite the warm welcome to Australia, the Ordas inevitably encountered a few roadblocks.

In Germany, Sabine was a paediatric nurse, diabetes educator and manager of their diabetes practice. However, in Australia, her medical prowess was not formally recognised.

“Despite the fact I had been doing this for 20 years in Germany, when I came here to Australia, they wanted me to do the whole study again. I said no way,” she said.

“I tried for three weeks and then I came back and said – Uli, I can't sit there with all the youngsters, I can't do this.

“I then found a niche in Mount Isa and got really excited about the idea to set up medical education and training for our junior doctors from internship to fellowship.”

Fortunately, Sabine had studied medicine in Germany, had passed the pre-clinical exam before having children and JCU assessed her prior learning as an equivalent for a bachelor in a health science subject. Combined with a two-year post-grad in diabetes education she was then qualified as a medical education officer.

“I never imagined myself doing this type of role. Never ever. When you start your working career at 20 in Germany, you never think about teaching in Mount Isa at 45, no way,” she said.

“We started by setting up all the training accreditation and pathways we needed for interns and IMGs. My task nowadays is to organise education sessions, maintain and add accreditation for certain places in the hospital and to make the doctors feel welcome and happy working in Mount Isa.

“We are very lucky to get rural generalist interns, so they are prepared for the work environment they'll find in Mount Isa and are keen and eager to work there.”

As the Director of Emergency (now one of three) and the Director of Clinical Training at Mount Isa Base Hospital, Ulrich’s journey was a little more linear.

“I was 16 and three quarters when I started my paramedic degree in Germany. After that I started medicine, initially training to become a general physician. But I always had an interest in emergency medicine so ended up doing emergency medicine and diabetes as my subspecialties,” Ulrich said.

Ulrich keeps his clinical life exciting – working as a rural generalist, anaesthetist in the operating theatre, and in Mount Isa’s emergency department, all while supporting Sabine with the training programs.

“The appeal of emergency medicine is that you have to make decisions relatively quickly. You assess patients immediately and you make an immediate impact on the health and care of your patients,” he said.

“Sabine and I have established a number of training programs in the hospital and the district for rural generalist training. We also support the emergency department with training in emergency medicine where we currently hold a 24-month training accreditation with the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

“We also look after IMGs for some of their educational needs.”

Recognising the importance of a representative body that advocates for the needs of both patients and doctors, Ulrich became an AMA Queensland member in 2011 soon after settling in Australia.

“You cannot underestimate the importance of someone looking after you in your profession and to have a body that actually has influence,” he said.

“It's also very important for patients that their doctor has a body that looks after doctors and appropriate patient care, whether that's politically convenient or not.

“I can only encourage every doctor to become a member so that there is a strong body that works in our interests – and AMA Queensland is a body that is not just for doctors but has the interest of patients at heart as well.”

At AMA Queensland’s Dinner for the Profession last May, Ulrich received the Rural Health Medal and Sabine the Excellence in Health Care Medal for their tireless and unique contribution to health care.

They have been pillars of support for the North-West Queensland community and we are incredibly privileged to support and work with them as AMA Queensland members.