Dr Stephan Reid describes his introduction to North Queensland as “heaven”.
He and his family were incredibly fortunate to temporarily escape life and restrictions in regional Victoria for a short holiday in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
“We went to Cairns for a week when Covid restrictions were relaxed. It was like a different world up here; there were no masks, you could eat at the restaurants – it was completely different to our life in Victoria where the restrictions were very intense,” he said.
“Queensland was really my idea of heaven.”
Dr Reid stepped into the role of Clinical Director Child and Adolescent Health at Mackay Hospital and Health Service in January and is enjoying the sea change as well as the challenge of joining a new multidisciplinary team.
He has spent most of his paediatric career working in regional areas and has extensive experience in the management of a range of common and not-so-common paediatric presentations.
He spent the last 12 months as the Interim Head of Unit – Paediatrics at Central Gippsland Health in Victoria. Relocating to warm and sunny Mackay and a significantly larger health service was a “dream job”.
“Mackay is unique as it’s a big health service covering a very large area of Queensland with a lot of expansive medical services,” he said.
“By nature, regional areas tend to be a little more welcoming than the city where it can sometimes be a little impersonal and everyone is fed up with the traffic. I tend to levitate to regional centres as I’m a good generalist and like the fact that I can provide acute and community care or be a makeshift neonatologist or a respiratory physician if required.
“It’s very challenging and also rewarding,” he said.
“You can also really become part of the local community as well.”
Dr Reid was born in South Africa and completed his primary medical degree at the University of Pretoria School of Medicine. He had an early interest in paediatrics and completed his paediatric training at the University of the Free State in 2010 and then established a private practice in Potchefstroom, a regional town about two hours outside of Johannesburg. He relocated to Victoria in 2018.
“I’ve always loved working with children. Even though they can get very sick very quickly, they also bounce back and have amazing resilience,” he said.
“In paeds you can immediately see when a child is improving – they return to smiling and playing.”
Dr Reid is passionate about the education of medical students, junior doctors as well as paediatric basic and advanced trainees. His medical interests include neonatology and paediatric cardiology.
The self-confessed sports fan enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, as well as exploring the outdoors. He likes running, swimming and triathlons.
Australia’s focus on prioritising work life balance is a huge attraction for overseas trained physicians and medical professionals like himself.
“Australians really value work life balance and there’s a lot of professionals now focused on pursuing that – it’s not 100% career and advancement at all costs ,” he said.
“It was about 2016 when we started playing with the idea of coming to Australia – having greater opportunity for our children was a huge driving factor.”
After five years in Victoria, an exciting new role and the prospect of warmer weather and a relaxed lifestyle lured the family north.
“If you had of asked me a year ago if I would be moving to Queensland, I would have said no way,” he said.
“Long term I had thought if I ever moved again, it would be to a larger health service and probably to sunny Queensland. This role offered that, many new challenges as well as the support of a junior workforce.
“Plus to be where we really wanted to live is what made it all worthwhile.”
A large community of South African professionals in both healthcare and mining roles in the Mackay region was also a bonus, he said.
“We really enjoy that there’s two dedicated South African butcheries/stores here in town where we can get some goodies from home. It really adds to the warm welcome.”
