<\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost impossible to separate retired specialist anaesthetist Dr Richard \u2018Harry\u2019 Harris SC OAM (BMBS \u201989, DUniversity \u201919) from that cave-diving rescue. He and Dr Craig Challen SC OAM were jointly awarded 2019 Australian of the Year for their efforts. The backstory that led him there includes studying at Flinders, and lots and lots of diving.<\/strong><\/p>\n Harry is a third-generation doctor who grew up around medicine. Raised in Adelaide, his dad was a vascular surgeon, and his mum was a nurse. If job prospects had been more viable for marine biologists, or if the veterinary school had accepted him, his story might be completely different. He credits a very influential Year 12 Biology teacher for pushing him in medicine\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to uni straight from school, aged 17. I always did outdoor holiday jobs, and I was working on a station near Broken Hill when I heard I was accepted. I was having so much fun I thought about spending a year up there. I decided it best to get on with it or I might not come back!\u201dHarry explains.<\/p>\n \u201cThe original plan was to become a country GP, but that changed over the years. While my career trajectory was pretty smooth, I actually failed my first year of medicine comprehensively. I never failed another exam, but I was very intimidated by the postgrad anaesthesia exams. Those exams put me off doing further study to be an intensive care (IC) specialist despite how much I enjoyed it. The thought of more exams was too much.\u201d<\/p>\n University Life<\/strong><\/p>\n Harry graduated from Flinders University with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1989. He says it was a great time of his life.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a good community, I had a great social life and I made lifelong friends \u2013 far more so than at school where I didn\u2019t really hit my stride. I think Flinders made me more open-minded and tolerant, and, to my parents\u2019 horror, a bit more of a lefty!\u201d<\/p>\n It was during his time at Flinders that his interest in diving flourished and distracted him from study. He says he was an average but well-connected student.<\/p>\n \u201cI have great memories of camping trips to the Yorke Peninsula with uni friends to go fishing and diving. I became a dive instructor at the Flinders University Underwater Club, and then started cave diving which has remained a passion. I know that current online learning and less face time has changed things a lot, so I hope that clubs and social activities are still as vigorous.\u201d<\/p>\n Linking Skills and Passion<\/strong><\/p>\n Having graduated, Harry did 12 months of anaesthesia training in the UK and loved it, so decided to apply to the training program in Adelaide. Before long, he was able to unite it with diving medicine and ICU and retrieval work to create a swag<\/p>\n of specialities that he says were riveting.<\/p>\n \u201cAnaesthesia was good for my extracurricular activities. It taught me to keep calm under pressure when you need to make difficult decisions. Cave diving shares the same need,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Across his more than 30-year career, Harry has worked in a variety of critical care and aeromedical retrieval environments in Australia, Vanuatu and New Zealand. It was his acclaim in cave-diving circles that saw him specifically requested by British experts to assist with the Tham Luang Nang Non cave rescue in Thailand.<\/p>\n The process involved navigating a dangerous cave system to retrieve 12 young soccer players and their coach, guiding them out through nearly 2.5 kilometres of zero visibility water. His skills as an anaesthetist and diver combined perfectly.<\/p>\n Although Harry was always training for something like this, he says that particular incident was, \u201cout of the box\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI certainly never expected to be involved in something of that scale, and definitely didn\u2019t expect the intense change to our lives that followed. My most meaningful award following that was the Edgar Pask Citation from the Association of Anaesthetists (AAGBI) in London. Edgar was an historical figure that I greatly admired.\u201d<\/p>\n Harry was awarded a 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award from Flinders for outstanding service to the international community through this specialist response role, and in the following year received an Honorary Doctor of the University. He also received the Star of Courage and the Medal of the Order of Australia.<\/p>\n The Way Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n Harry says that anaesthesia has never been safer, but that good clinical skills and teamwork remain the most important thing in patient safety.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking in Vanuatu reminded me of that fact. I see a lot of technology and monitoring being used because it is the \u2018accepted standard\u2019. I worry that it costs more but doesn\u2019t contribute further to patient outcomes. We need to constantly reassess these priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n He pictures more automation, more AI and more assistants, like nurse anaesthetists, performing some of his skills in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cI think other practitioners like nurses can really value-add, especially as we become overwhelmed with greater numbers of older, sicker and more complex patients. As doctors we need to stop being so protective of our patch and be more open-minded to using other skilled practitioners, so we can concentrate on the most complex of patients,\u201d he says. To those considering medicine as a career, Harry encourages them not to hesitate<\/p>\n \u201cJust go easy on yourself and ask for help if you are struggling. At times it\u2019s genuinely hard for everyone,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Retired as an anaesthetist since 2022, Harry is the current Lieutenant Governor of South Australia. He\u2019s also on the speaking circuit, pursuing his career in factual filmmaking \u2013 particularly underwater \u2013 and writing kids\u2019 books.<\/p>\n \u201cLife is great and I\u2019m so very fortunate to have these<\/p>\n opportunities. Cave diving and imaging remains a big focus. I also took up grassroots motor sports a few years ago, racing an old mini and a 1974 Ford Escort.\u201d<\/p>\n Wise Words<\/strong><\/p>\n Cave diving and motorsports might seem reckless or courageous, but Harry says he is far from fearless.<\/p>\n \u201cI am actually a bit of a nervous person who doesn\u2019t consider himself at all brave. But I do believe I am a good risk manager.\u201d The idea of getting out of your comfort zone is something he advocates.<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone asks if you want to do something new, difficult or scary, say yes, then think about it afterwards! Especially at work. If they ask if you want to do something that seems a bit outside your wheelhouse, chances are they think you are ready, so just do it. Maybe refresh on the text books a bit first!\u201d he says.<\/p>\n His motto makes sense and rings true. Richard \u2018Harry\u2019 Harris won\u2019t die wondering.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By Kate Holland<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s almost impossible to separate retired specialist anaesthetist Dr Richard \u2018Harry\u2019 Harris SC OAM (BMBS \u201989, DUniversity \u201919) from that cave-diving rescue. He and Dr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3211,"featured_media":1815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5833,828,2075,2081],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-50-years-of-medicine","category-college-of-medicine-and-public-health","category-study-health","category-study-medicine"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/alumni-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}