University of Western Australia
Twenty years since the Bali Bombings is a time of reflection for people in the WA community who were directly impacted by the horrific events of October 2002, including members of the UWA community.
The attacks claimed the lives of 202 people, including 88 Australians and put some UWA Medical School graduates to the test.
GP Dr Tony Pethick MBBS ’89, walked from his hotel towards the aftermath and discovered people in dire need of urgent first aid treatment. Dr Pethick helped transfer them to the nearest clinic and then onto the local hospital.
Many severely injured Australians did survive, due to early interventions, but not everyone made it and Dr Pethick had a critical role in speaking with their families at that dark time.
The scale of the disaster meant that the Indonesian government quickly made an exception to allow foreign doctors to help at the hospital.
Dr Vij Vijayasekaran, AM MBBS’96 was an advanced trainee in plastic surgery and had recently completed a rotation in the Royal Perth Hospital burns unit when he travelled to Bali on holiday with his wife and fellow UWA graduate Dr Priya Thalayasingam, AM MBBS’96, an advanced trainee in anaesthetics.
On their arrival to Sanglah hospital it became clear that adequate treatment for those severely injured had to be sought elsewhere.
An aeromedical evacuation to Australia was planned involving commercial and military aircraft. Vij triaged patients according to the severity of their injuries to prioritize their transfer. In the interim, they treated the wounded, managed fluid resuscitation and Vij performed countless escharotomies, an emergency surgical procedure to release the constrictive effects of severely burnt skin.
The environment was one of extremely limited equipment and resources but enormous human spirit. As patients were stabilised, the triage plan for who to evacuate first, became the central task.
An off duty Australian serviceman assisted in identifying where all Australian and foreign casualties were located in the sprawling hospital wards.
Dr Pethick returned to the hospital 12 hours after the bomb exploded, together with Dr Martin Ibach MBBS '88, and another non-medical friend.
They assisted in placing IV cannulas and IDCs, as well as offering emotional support, and began transferring patients out to the airport pending arrival of Australian Army medics on a Hercules plane.
On arrival, the army medical team, which included intensivists and a surgeon, furthered the triage process, performed emergency escharotomies and administered much needed analgesia.
Engineer David Fyfe was inside Paddy's Bar when the first bomb went off. His remarkable resilience meant that he was determined to get the most out of life, despite his injuries.
In 2011, Mr Fyfe graduated with a UWA Graduate Certificate in Business and is now the CEO of Synergy. He is also on the board of the Fiona Wood Foundation, and as a recipient of the ‘spray on skin’ technology developed by Professor Fiona Wood and Dr Marie Stoner. Mr Fyfe is committed to furthering research to ensure a better quality of life for burns patients.
“I remember waking up 12 days after Bali… no idea what had happened,” Mr Fyfe said.
“And as soon as she (Professor Wood) walked into the room, I felt better. She’s an exceptional leader: so calm, so caring, but able to make tough decisions.
“She has no interest in being famous. When she set up the foundation, she named it after one of her old mentors.”
Opening Australia's eyes to burns injuries, Professor Wood, together with her team at Royal Perth Hospital, helped save 28 patients using her innovative technique known as "spray on skin".
The world-first technology, which allows healthy skin cells to be cultured and sprayed on to wounds, greatly reduced permanent scarring in burns victims.
Although a private person, Professor Wood continues to make herself available for presentations and media opportunities, knowing that awareness is fundamental to attracting support for the work that she feels is still unfinished.
“We are only just beginning to discover the longer term effects of burns injury, and what we need to do to mitigate that,” Professor Wood said.
“It’s not enough to just heal the skin, we need to heal the whole body and mind.”
The University of Western Australia and Fiona Wood Foundation are working together to attract $3 million to establish an endowed chair in burns injury research. Professor Wood hopes this legacy will ensure that burns research continues in Western Australia long after she retires.
“Our community is particularly vulnerable to burns injury due to our landscape and the types of industry we operate," Professor Wood said.
“We need to be prepared for smaller scale accidents as well as the next disaster.”
The 20 year anniversary is being marked in several ways, Mr Fyfe and Professor Wood are speaking together at the upcoming Business News breakfast on The Path of Resilience, and author and journalist Sue Williams has released a biography of Professor Wood’s story, named Under Her Skin, with proceeds directed to the Fiona Wood Foundation.
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