It Takes Heart
It Takes Heart is an unmissable podcast where healthcare workers share their honest and unique experiences from Australia’s frontline.
Discover real-life stories of passion and purpose, insight and inspiration from people on the inside and tales that are equal parts heart-warming, heart-wrenching and hilarious. It Takes Heart is co-hosted by cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment CEO Samantha Miklos and Head of Talent and Employer Branding Kate Coomber.
It Takes Heart
A Limitless Life with Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM
CW//Mental Health Issues
We are excited to bring you this inspiring story, but with that, comes the guests truthful account of his mental health challenges and paralysing depression. If you feel you could be triggered by this content, you may want to skip this episode.
Today's guest is an incredible human.
As OAM and Queensland Australian of the Year, Dr Dinesh Palipana is a living demonstration of breaking down society barriers, particularly in the world of medicine. He was the first medical intern in Queensland with quadriplegia. He has reshaped the potential for not only graduating from medical school with a disability, but working as an emergency doctor.
Born in Sri Lanka in 1984, civil war, corruption and poverty shaped his early years and were the lens through which he encounters some of the biggest events in his life.
On the Brisbane motorway in 2010, when Dinesh was in medical school, his car spun out of control and he watched himself and his life literally being turned upside down. His medical training halted in that instant and he would spend the years that followed recovering as a patient with a spinal cord injury.
Today, Dinesh is a lawyer, a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia. He's completed a clerkship at Harvard University. He's a senior lecturer at Griffith University and a spinal cord injury researcher. He currently also works in the emergency department at Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a senior advisor to the Disability Royal Commission and an ambassador to the Human Rights Commission's Includability Program.
Dr. Palipana opens up about his battle with depression, a struggle that began long before his spinal cord injury. Drawing inspiration from icons like Stephen Hawking and Christopher Reeve, Dr. Palipana's narrative underscores the importance of mental resilience and gratitude.
He recounts his transformation from feeling paralyzed by depression to celebrating life's simple pleasures and remarkable milestones, including writing his first book "Stronger" that's being adapted into a TV series.
As we discuss the evolving landscape of the healthcare system, Dr. Palipana's insights inspire us to champion inclusivity and empathy in medicine.
This episode promises to leave you motivated to support and empower diversity, challenging societal perceptions and inspiring future generations to break barriers.
Tune in for a truly inspiring conversation that celebrates the spirit of community care and transformation.
This episode of It Takes Heart has CEO of cmr Sam Miklos hosting alongside Head of Talent and Employer Branding, Kate Coomber.
We Care; Music by Waveney Yasso
More about Dinesh's Charity of Choice:
Titans Together The charitable arm of the club, Titans Together, endeavours to be a community focused, commercially motivated organisation that is driven to make a difference in people’s lives. Titans Together actively support local schools, clubs, charities and community organisations through our programs, appearances and donations. All donations to Titans Together are used to drive a range of community projects across Indigenous education, inclusion projects like LEAGUEABILITY, as well as development, participation and high-performance football programs. Visit www.titans.com.au for more information.
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Follow @ittakesheartpodcast on Instagram, @cmr | Cornerstone Medical Recruitment on Linked In, @cornerstonemedrec on TikTok and @CornerstoneMedicalRecruitment on Facebook.
We care for the land and sea. We care for the energy. We care for our community. We care. Welcome to it Takes Heart. I'm Sam Miklos and I'm Kate Coomba. We hope you enjoy these incredible stories of healthcare professionals making a difference in communities across Australia and beyond. Through our conversations, we look to celebrate the spirit of community and care. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land who have long practised and shared ancient methods of healing, providing care and support for their communities with wisdom passed down through generations.
Kate Coomber:Join us as we explore what it truly means to take heart.
Sam Miklos:So welcome, Dinesh. Hi, it gives me great pleasure to welcome OAM and Queensland Australian of the Year, Dr Dinesh Palipana. Dinesh is a living demonstration of breaking down society barriers, particularly in the world of medicine. Dinesh was the first medical intern in Queensland with quadriplegia. He has reshaped the potential for not only graduating from medical school with a disability, but working as an emergency doctor. Born in Sri Lanka in 1984, civil war, corruption and poverty shaped his early years and were the lens through which he encounters some of the biggest events in his life. On the Brisbane motorway in 2010, when Dinesh was in medical school, his car spun out of control and he watched himself and his life literally being turned upside down. His medical training halted in that instant and he would spend the years that followed recovering as a patient with a spinal cord injury. Today, Dinesh is a lawyer, a founding member of Doctors with Disabilities Australia. He's completed a clerkship at Harvard University. He's a senior lecturer at Griffith University and a spinal cord injury researcher. He currently also works in the emergency department at Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a senior advisor to the Disability Royal Commission and an ambassador to the Human Rights Commission's Includability Program.
Sam Miklos:He is an author and his book Stronger is an inspiring read and I've got to be honest, Kate and I have loved it. Kate has read it twice. I think it's a third. I think she's onto her third. I know she's downloaded it twice for sure, but we absolutely loved it. Dinesh loves cars, he's a risk taker, he's got a good sense of humor from that book and perhaps is the only Sri Lankan. I believe he was not into cricket but when it all comes down to it got him into medicine because in his words the doctors got all the cute girls and we might find out later if it was McDreamy or McSteamy that you were channeling, but we'll see. So here today to talk about purpose and inclusion and how important it is to have the right people working in healthcare, A big welcome to Dinesh, to it Takes Heart.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Thank you. Wow, that's a massive introduction. The expectations are going to be high.
Sam Miklos:They are so high nervous, no, you can deliver. You can deliver.
Kate Coomber:Right, we've built you up I think, um, before we get started, we can really get a sense for the passion that you bring to so many different projects. You, um, you seem to fit a lot of things into a working week. I guess we're really interested. We saw you're in darwin this week. You just mentioned You've got an event tonight. What does a typical week look like, and how do you do it all? Yeah, how do you do it.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Every week is different, every day is different. So that's part of the reason why I love life. You know, I think I never like doing the same thing every single day. So today I feel really lucky because, like you said, I was in Darwin earlier this week and we were doing some work around some of the new human rights legislation, around a positive duty for organizations to enact some of the human rights obligations. So I was up there connecting with the community. It's so nice, right, because, darwin, there's a lot of need in the non-in territory, there's a lot of work to be done. So to be there and then to come home and to join you today, and then I'm working in the ED on the weekend and joining a radio show on Saturday morning. So life is really good and I feel very, very, very blessed and gifted.
Sam Miklos:Fantastic. So let's start at the beginning and take you back to Sri Lanka, when you were growing up. Growing up in Sri Lanka how did that shape, I guess, who you are today and how you faced all the challenges that life has thrown at you, and the opportunities as well.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Yeah, well, I feel like my life has been very serendipitous and Sri Lanka once upon a time was called Serendip. So I think the story is Sri Lanka was found by chance by some explorer and they call it Serendip because of the serendipity and the beauty of the island. And I feel that it's appropriate because my life, I feel, has been very serendipitous and a part of that was growing up in Sri Lanka For life. I think perspective is really important. We live in a big city, we live in a prosperous state, we have everything right, we have good roads, we have the internet.
Sam Miklos:We have everything. We have food. We can choose what we eat, what we eat, the internet we have everything we have food Like.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:We can choose what we eat. It's amazing we can choose what we wear, and for a lot of people on this planet, that is not an option. They don't get to choose what they eat, if they eat at all. They don't have the internet. They don't have a car to drive on a road, so we get to live here. They don't have a car to drive on a road, so we get to live here. Right, and I think growing up in Sri Lanka made me live amongst the people who don't have these options.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So I think, when we're having a rough day, or when you know I'm stuck in traffic today for a while, but those problems don't seem like problems at all, because then you look around and go actually I'm in a car and I'm driving to do something that I've chosen to do, and I'm well fed, I'm wearing what I want to, and those are wins in the big scheme of things. So if I could take away the biggest thing in Sri Lanka, it's actually the fact that it gave me perspective.
Kate Coomber:I think perspective can be difficult to hold at certain times in your life and I know that you referenced and were quite candid about your experience with depression before your spinal injury and you mentioned feeling even more paralysed by that. Can you talk to us a little bit about what you mean there?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:It's a really timely question because I mean, we're talking about medicine too right, and in medicine I have seen many colleagues that have gone through depression that have gone through depression, we've lost colleagues to depression and we continue to lose colleagues to depression, and I think that this is a thing that is pervasive through all levels of society. It's present everywhere and I don't think it's something that we're still dealing with it at more than a surface level. And we do some nice things, like we have the little morning teas and bits and pieces.
Sam Miklos:Are you okay, days? Yeah.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:But when it comes to actually doing something when it matters, do we do that? I don't think so. I don't think we stick up for our friends and colleagues. I don't think the human resources systems are set up properly. I don't think so. So I've gone through this myself and, to be honest, it's something that I'm really grateful for, because it taught me what depression is. When I started to go through it, it was the early 2000s. We didn't really have these conversations that we are today about depression, and even for my friends and family, the people around me, it was the old question you have such a good life, why are you depressed?
Kate Coomber:Possibly because of things you referenced earlier of we're fed, we've got a roof, we've got access to all of these things. How can that be?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Exactly. But I was, and I was profoundly depressed, I was profoundly low. I had an anxiety disorder and a panic disorder. I was agoraphobic, didn't leave the house, didn't leave the house, phobic, didn't leave the house, like I was a shell of who I am today, literally. Uh, but I think our soul is so powerful. Right, we? I mean the body, if we, if we look at people like stephen hawking or christopher ree, or there are many people in this planet whose bodies were so affected actually but I couldn't buy injuries like mine but they've really let their soul shine and they've changed the direction of humanity, direction of humanity. So I think our soul is a really powerful thing and we need that. We need our soul to be free and happy, to be connected, to be in tune and and everything. I think the world is a reflection of who we are inside as well. So everything was affected, like I didn't. You know, I was love ice cream.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, I remember being a policy. I knew how to eat the chocolate and then the strawberry goes in the bin. Same with me, yeah. And if you're desperate, the vanilla gets a ride.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:you eat the chocolate and then the strawberry goes in the bin, same with me. Yeah, strawberry sucks. And if?
Sam Miklos:you're desperate. The vanilla gets a ride, yeah.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Exactly, I mean, just eat a real strawberry. Yeah, so last night I was eating some chocolate ice cream and it was so good, like it was. You know, my mum was there and I was just saying, oh my God, this is amazing, and like I enjoy the small things like that. Now.
Kate Coomber:It's true gratitude, isn't it yeah?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:And a friend of mine said recently, I've never seen someone enjoy an apple so much, but when I had depression I could not taste the food.
Sam Miklos:Depression.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:I could not taste the food. Today is so beautiful like the sky is blue and the temperature is perfect, the sun's out.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:I didn't see that Every day was grey and so I think I was just floating in this world like a ghost and I struggled with university, I struggled with relationships, I struggled with friendships. I struggled with everything and to me that was paralysis. I was paralyzed. I've had the spinal cord injury now for 14 years and, yeah, like it's hardest thing I've ever had to do, waking up in that intensive care bed, paralyzed. I had this moment where I just wanted to run away, like I didn't want to be there, I didn't want to face this, I didn't want this to be happening. I thought I just want to run away right now, but I couldn't run away and I felt trapped. But that was 14 years ago. In the last 14 years, I've done so many things. I've written a book. It's actually getting turned into a TV series at the moment.
Kate Coomber:Isn't it?
Sam Miklos:Oh, congratulations. There's still a few steps to go. We could be extras 100%.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, exactly, we're right there. We were going to talk to you about all the big things that you do, because I hear as well you're a bit of a daredevil.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, I've been skydiving, I've been parasailing, I've been parasailing. I've done heaps of different things Last week. Actually on the weekend, there's a restaurant in Brisbane that's attached to the side of the Powerhouse Museum.
Sam Miklos:Oh, wow.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So you sit on the seats and there's nothing between you and the ground on one side. Oh wow, so you know I had dinner there. But, like life is amazing, I'm so grateful for life. I have a great time, and so I guess the point of all that is, I compare often the time I had depression to my life after the spinal cord injury, and it makes me think that, you know, as long as I have my soul, I can do anything, and that's why I think for me, depression was a lot more paralyzing than the spinal cord injury has been, Because it was a time when I was too scared to leave the house.
Sam Miklos:And you really found your purpose and I know for you that purpose is really important and you know you wanted to touch on that today. Define that purpose like what is that? What does that look like now, and is it purpose in medicine or purpose in general? Is it a bigger? Is it a bigger purpose? Um?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:it's a great question, I think, um, so there's this saying um, actually it's a, it's a haiku, terrible with, like, I don't get poetry, so I don't know anything about haikus, but I know this one. And it goes my barn having burnt down, I can see the moon. So when I had depression, I think it was a time when I had to strip away. We build up all these layers in our lives, right, like I was talking to a friend recently and we've all seen this where we go through life and we accumulate things. We accumulate, okay, I've got my car now I've got my house and I've got, uh, I've got this job where I have this title and I have, I have my belongings and this, and that I have my social status, but it actually means nothing, right, and um, I was only in my early twenties but I had certain things that I was holding on to, but when I had depression, I lost it all. And I needed to lose it all because I think, to see the moon, you actually have to burn down your barn, and this has happened to me a couple of times in my life.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So, yeah, I think I just had to let all that go to find myself again, and the way I found myself is actually when I saw, started seeing a doctor and I came out of the depression and I always quote this, which is a saying that my mom loves to say and that's by helping one person, and that's by helping one person, we may not change the world, but we will change the world for them. To me, is there anything purer in this world than making an impact on someone's life in a positive way, because that's a whole world, right? I think within each of us there's a whole universe, yeah, because that's a whole world, right. I think within each of us there's a whole universe. Yeah, and to help a human being, to make a positive impact on someone in need, I think is really pure. There's a purity to that, and for me, that's what life is about. I was so those days before the depression, I was always thinking about what I could have, what I could take, what I wanted.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:I wanted a car and the house and all this stuff and that became my focus. But I realized that actually it's not about what we take from this world at all. That's not happiness.
Kate Coomber:It's about what we can give and so that's what resonates with me the most. I think you've got a lot to offer the younger generation in terms of that. I think that really resonates. We've both got young children and I can see the impact you could have on young people in this very fast collecting, quick win world that they're growing up in. And I think that that's a really important thing to make them stop and realize.
Sam Miklos:Everything's on demand.
Kate Coomber:Everyone's working to the next step and they need to be the next thing, as you mentioned. But what are we doing? What are we doing? What?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:are we doing? Yeah, exactly, you'll have to come speak at the kids' school, but what are we doing?
Kate Coomber:What are we doing? What are we doing? Yeah, exactly yeah. You'll have to come speak at the kids' school.
Sam Miklos:Can I shift gears a little to medicine?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Yeah.
Sam Miklos:In your book. Actually, you mentioned a lot about the right people in medicine. Yeah, and I think from our agency perspective, it's making sure that we are getting the right people that have really got heart and can really connect in the communities they're going to. When you talk about the right people in healthcare, what makes the right person and what makes the wrong person maybe you know whichever lens is easier.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:I think there's a lot to this. First of all, especially today. Especially today, we talk about the pressures that the health system is under. We talk about the I work in an emergency department. We talk about the emergency department loads.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:We talk about all these things there's also a saying that he who has a why to live can bear almost any how. So I think purpose is really important, and I think in medicine, first and foremost, it has to be people that find purpose in it, and they're grounded in purpose. Our purpose is actually human beings. That is the reason we exist. I think medicine for the longest time have been very paternalistic. We've dictated, we've prescribed, we've told our patients what to do.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Is that the right way for medicine? Probably not anymore. I don't think, because we exist to serve our patients. There's a speech attributed to Mahatma Gandhi from many, many years ago, and it's. I don't know if he actually said it and I don't know why, in what context he would have made this speech, but it's about customer service. Yeah right and he says that the purpose of our existence. I guess if you're running a business or something, the customer is not an interruption to it but rather the purpose to it.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:And he goes on to say why we exist. So I think in medicine we need people who are grounded in that purpose. We're here to serve and the patient is the reason we exist. And I think if you have that, then you find the joy and the resilience and the strength to keep going through the hard times. I think we have to be giving not just to our patients but to our colleagues as well. Of late I've come across many situations where we've had colleagues who are struggling but we're quick to alienate them when that time comes. How can we serve our patients if we're not serving our colleagues?
Sam Miklos:as well, yeah.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So I think we need to be giving, we need to be selfless, we need to be purposeful and we need to realize that this is not about us.
Sam Miklos:Yeah. So I was surprised then to read in your book that you would only go into a hospital if you were dying. How, having been a patient, now a doctor in emergency? How do you reconcile those two perspectives?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:It's crazy, right?
Sam Miklos:I find that I actually did go back and read that a few times and then I emailed it to myself. I was like God, I need to understand this more.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:But I'm scared, like even now. I'm scared to be a patient in a hospital and I think it's because I spent so long in hospitals. We read some of the stories, we've read some of the investigations. We see things in the media. It is hard being a patient in a hospital. It's disempowering and sometimes you don't know what's going on, and even the physical environment it's noisy. There are lots of people. It's scary.
Kate Coomber:And whilst you're at your most vulnerable.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Exactly, and for me it wasn't like I went in with a broken leg or something I was paralyzed, stuck in the bed, and there were things that happened during that stay that were really difficult and I just don't want to. It scares me to go back to that place. But I've had the privilege of contributing some regular little bits and pieces at Stanford University. So in 2018, they had Stanford Medicine X, which is like a TED type event, and I went to talk there and there was a workshop and it was a really interesting workshop where they had doctors and patients and they got them to talk to each other and some of the patients with chronic diseases they said I'm so scared to go to a hospital, right now.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:And I thought that was really interesting in that a lot of people with chronic diseases share that experience. But where is the breakdown of that therapeutic relationship?
Kate Coomber:like this and what needs to change and what is the solution. You know.
Sam Miklos:It's a big. It's a big systemically. Even in terms of these facilities there's change. I mean, you talk about the noise, and the environments themselves haven't evolved If you think about schools and the evolution of the education system and that, but a lot of those hospitals are still very similar. There's a lot that can be changed.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:But I think you said, if we can do better on the human face, because it's people right, it's people that we invest in, it's people that we trust, it's people. So if we can do better as people, then I think you said in your book a human can't be broken, it's society and the structures that limit people and if you think back to when you graduated, it was really sort of the 11th hour.
Kate Coomber:Friday, I think it was Friday, you had to go get the clothes on the weekend. And you've got senior clinicians, you've got peers, people doubting your ability to really contribute in the medical world. How do you think we can improve that moving forward for people to really foster that genuine culture of inclusivity in?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:healthcare. There are a number of points to that question which I think is important. Disability or not, we are at a time in society like I mean, the industrial revolution's gone right.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:We have all these things, so we don't need factory workers performing this like set task at a set time. We need to harness people's strengths, and everyone has different strengths. Everyone has different things that they enjoy yeah, uh, everyone, whether you have a spinal cord injury or not. So why don't we harness those people? Why don't we be flexible in the workplace? Why don't we harness those people? Why don't we be flexible in the workplace? Why don't we come to 2024 and do that? It's the same in medicine Not everyone does neurosurgery, not everyone does anesthesia, not everyone does C-sections. You know, I have a friend who only operates on a very specific joint in the body and I talked to him about another joint recently and he's like I don't know.
Sam Miklos:That's outside of my remit, yeah.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So, you know, I think we just need to help people find their way to the right spot. Sure, you've got to have a general knowledge of everything, but I think we just need to rethink Does everyone need to do CPR? Not really Like we have machines that do that In a big hospital. There are plenty of people that will do that. What do we need? We need people to think through why has this person had a cardiac arrest? And what do we do next? Because you can, all of us in this room could do CPR if we're taught for a couple of hours. So we need to think about things differently. Then I think we need to think about why is this actually important? Well, first and foremost, I think it's a human rights issue. We've agreed as humanity, through treaties and statutes and all these things, that, yeah, this is a human rights issue. Everyone has the right to be educated, everyone has the right to be employed. We've agreed on those things. But I think we need to. We have to talk to all sides of society, right?
Sam Miklos:Yeah.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:And there are valid arguments for all sides of society, and one is that it makes economic sense. We have seen the diverse workplaces to have less absenteeism, we have seen it to be more productive, more profitable, happier, and we've invested so much in the NDIS in this country, I think the budget is starting to eclipse that of Medicare at the moment, which is a separate issue, but if we are to get the bang for our buck with NDIS, it's about finding people, employment as well, and in medicine this is important too, because what we need are not more factory workers as doctors. What we need are passionate people who want to contribute, who have specific skill sets that they're good at. If we can do that, then medicine will really, really thrive. We will reflect modern society, and I think it will actually start bridging the therapeutic relationship that we've broken over time as well. Otherwise, medicine is going to get left behind.
Kate Coomber:I guess if you think of all of those things, we can see how passionate you are and clearly the interactions that you must have with your patients must be so impactful. If you're reflecting on your medical career to date, what's the moment that really stands out to you? Of where you're? I really am proud of that moment. I really made a big difference there. I have so many moments like that. It doesn't have to be one.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Yeah, that's why I say I mean, I have a great time and I'm so grateful for life. There are a couple that I'll share with you. One is actually it's probably a string of experiences with patients and it's revolved around you know, I knew that you would understand. I'm so glad that you're my doctor because I know that you get what I'm going through. So those kind of moments, those kind of interactions, it makes the entire journey worthwhile and I'm so grateful to those patients and they remind me why I'm here. We spoke about some of the structural challenges that we had organizationally and with senior staff in the past, but here's the thing I have seen thousands of patients now going into my eighth year as a doctor never had one who said I don't think you can do your job Never, which is surprising to me. But I think it tells us that society has probably progressed a lot more than we have.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, that's a good sign.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:The second thing is I think it's been seeing other medical students coming through who have spinal cord injuries or have disability. Yeah, I was in Melbourne a little while ago and I caught up with three medical students and all three of them had disability. Two of them use wheelchairs and one was walking with sticks. And one of them said that they're from overseas and they just saw a YouTube video of me and after they had their own injury, they said you know what? I think I can do that too. So, like that is, I would do this all over again for that.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, to kind of inspire others and change their lives. It's totally worth it.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:I think those are the moments that you know. I told myself before I got into medical school that if, in this entire journey and life, I can make one impact on a person, then it'll be all worth it.
Sam Miklos:So thankfully it's you know, well worth it. Yeah, well worth it. So globally there's a shortage of healthcare professionals and the incoming AMA Queensland president last week was just saying that they're looking for innovative ways to attract and retain doctors and also address those burnout concerns as well. How do you think we could be tackling these big issues? You know, attraction, retention, burnout, yeah. I need to give them all the answers here my classmate Dr Nick.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:H we went to medical school together. He's a great guy. We've known each other for a long time. I mean, yeah, we do have to. It's also not just about medical schools, but it's about getting people into training programs, about thinking differently about who we attract. Medicine is cognitively challenging, so I understand why we want people who can, who welcomes that challenge, but at the same time, like it's also about a myriad of other skills that we need as well. So I do think we need to think widely about who and there are one in six people with disability in this country so why not Like?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:why not consider broadening that? So we do need to think differently about how to do that. And even with workforce shortages and things like, we always jump to the quick answer we always jump to, but I think we don't always think about what the good, sustainable, long-term solutions are. But yeah, I think we need to think very differently and innovatively.
Kate Coomber:Yeah, did I remember you saying that you're now a trainee of ACRM?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Yeah, very proud trainee of ACRM, actually Australian College of.
Kate Coomber:Rural Remote Medicine.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Yeah.
Kate Coomber:I guess where do you hope that's going to take you and where are you at with that and what's the next steps?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:It's been a very interesting journey in that, the career pathway. So when I finished medical school I started working towards radiology and I thought radiology would be a good career in that without the use of my hands or fingers it might be good. And there were a lot of radiologists that were supportive of my career but there were also some that were very resistant. But it just got me thinking, you know like I like seeing patients, I like I just like that face-to-face contact as well.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So I had this conversation with a doctor in our emergency department one night where she said why don't you consider doing emergency medicine? So I thought, okay, that's you know, and that kind of opened the door for me to think emergency medicine. So I thought, okay, that's you know, and that kind of opened the door for me to think about that. So I started thinking about that and then switched but the College of Emergency Medicine are probably not quite there yet. And then I went to a couple of rural medicine conferences and I met the rural journalists and I thought, wow, these guys are amazing.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:And it actually made me think back to one of the reasons that I wanted to do medicine is obviously the people, but I thought of medicine in something where you can go anywhere in the world and do something for someone and Akram is actually the perfect, like that is what they equip you to do. And so it wasn't like it wasn't the first thing that I thought of and actually it wasn't something that was at the forefront of my mind, but it took a journey to find that. But now I feel like it's actually the perfect place for me for a lot of those reasons and also the college is very adaptive, which I guess is what rural generalists are. They're adaptive, flexible, forward-thinking people, and I'm really excited to be a part of the college because I think they can really equip you to make an impact on places that need it the most.
Kate Coomber:I think I read you said something along the lines of rural generalist doctors practice the most truest medicine really.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:I mean yeah, they do so much with so little right.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, absolutely completely.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So I've been in a study group with Akram and the way the scenarios work and the changes that the scenarios take and the flexibility they expect of you and the type of thinking it's actually really exciting and challenging and I think that they're just it's perfect. I really love it, yeah. So will that see you going out on placements and Well, you know, I took a flying lesson a couple of years ago.
Sam Miklos:Of course you did.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:There's a flying school down in Melbourne for people with spinal cord injury. It's called Wheelies with Wings.
Sam Miklos:Yeah.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So I took one flying lesson. Then I want to get a pilot's license yeah uh because that's the ultimate.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, and then you can just like fly out to wherever, out to mount isa for a bit back in yeah, there is actually a doctor that does that.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Um, he has a plane and he flies around from cans, I think, somewhere like that. So I want to. I want to do that one day. It's on the list of things.
Sam Miklos:What else is on the list, because you've accomplished a lot.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:To go to space. To go to space. Yeah, I actually really want to go to space.
Sam Miklos:Do you yeah?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:I have a friend who builds rockets.
Sam Miklos:Right, elon, it's not Elon. There's like a little name drop in there.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:It. There's like a little name drop in there it's Elon. No, no, not Elon. I don't know Elon yet you don't know him yet maybe he'll listen to the podcast absolutely, we'll tag him but no, they build rockets in Queensland actually and they have their first launch this year. I, I think.
Sam Miklos:Wow.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:But I have made him promise me to send me to space at some point.
Sam Miklos:Yeah, wow, yeah, that's amazing. That's like proper bucket list.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Well, I think one of the reasons is I like to see how far I can stretch myself, because that's one of the fun parts about life. Right, you want to see.
Kate Coomber:You definitely get that sense, yeah, that you're really pushing the envelope with everything that you do.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:I want to see what I I want to see. I want to see how far I can go, but I think it's also important for us to show society you know what is disability. Have a think about it. Like you know, this is what can be done, what do you think?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So that's the other reason why I think it's important, and for the kids you know, I met a lot of parents with kids who have disability over time and they, like my mum my mum still. I turned 40 this year and I think I'll always be a little kid to her but when you talk to parents, they want the best for their kids right.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:They want a good future. They worry about what will happen to them. They might be five years old, they might be seven years old, but they still. You can see the weight on their heart. So I think it's important for the kids as well. Yeah, maybe more than me.
Kate Coomber:Have those role models. Well, look, thank you so much. We know you've got a busy, busy night coming up. We really appreciate you taking that bit of time with us today.
Sam Miklos:I think we could um we could talk to you for hours. We have any.
Kate Coomber:We we will have that opportunity, um, but thank you so much. We really want to shine a light on a charity of your choice today by not only donating 500 to that charity but also raising a bit of awareness. What charity is up for you today?
Dr Dinesh Palipana:So there are a few that I support, and I think there's so many people doing amazing work out in the community, but I think the one that will actually shine a light on today is the Gold Coast Titans, who do a lot of work around disability, so we have a disability team.
Sam Miklos:Okay.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:And it's really growing. And the reason why I think this is important is because we need inclusion and we need to demonstrate inclusion across a range of things. So, whether it be medicine, whether it be education, whether it be other kinds of employment, fashion, art, sport is important too, and I think for an NRL team to take this on board and to have it on their heart and to support all these guys who come and play rugby.
Sam Miklos:Yeah.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:And you can see the joy that it brings and the connection that it brings, the cohesion for their family, the change to their health, the way it opens up employment opportunities or education opportunities. So I think sport is really important and it's a good vehicle, especially in Australia where it's been our national language for so long to do that. So, uh, yeah, the Gold Coast Titans, uh, would be the, would be the one and their charitable arm, you know the. Thing with any of these sports actually is its ability to bring communities together.
Sam Miklos:I think yeah.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:And the cohesion that it creates. So for me, the Titans, the way they bring the community together, especially such a diverse community like Gold Coast yeah, I think it has warmed my heart.
Sam Miklos:That's fantastic. I love it so good. Dinesh, to quote your mum, you know you cannot change the world, but for one person you certainly can and you are just such an inspiration, you know, sitting here and before we'd even met you, having read your book and just all of the things that you've achieved but just you're so deep and philosophical and there's so many lessons from you around not just inclusion, but even leadership, and the way that you think is just amazing. So I'm so grateful that we were able to have you here today and I just really hope that those that listen to this podcast like it just starts a conversation, a different conversation, around inclusion and particularly in healthcare, and if we can have more people like yourself in healthcare that have just got that purpose and that real heart, like just the difference that will make is just amazing. So thank you so much for your time.
Dr Dinesh Palipana:Thank you for having me. It's been, it's been so good chatting to you and thank you for being you.
Sam Miklos:Fantastic, thank you. Thanks for listening. Don't forget to share, rate and review. This allows us to reach more people and share more incredible stories. Click the follow or subscribe button to ensure you never miss an episode. Thank you.
