“I went into medicine because I like people,” says Dr Chris Sadler, who has recently joined Ochre Medical Centre Maleny. “And you have far more people contact than IT and engineering, which is where I started!” After completing his medical training in Brisbane, Dr Sadler worked at hospitals in Brisbane and Mt Isa. “I chose general practice for its variety,” he says. “In hospital, you deal only with very sick people, but now I also get to deal with healthy people and to help keep them that way. Plus, as a GP, you can do anything and everything!”
A particular area of interest is diabetes – which was fortunate for one particular patient. “He came to me for a consult and we got to talking about his diabetes,” says Dr Sadler. “He was passing out fairly frequently and having dizzy episodes – people would think he was drunk walking down the street! When he woke in the morning, he would have a headache and fatigue. He wasn’t able to drive and he was barely able to function.”
Dr Sadler reviewed the patient’s insulin regime and found an issue with the dosing. “You have to dose that type of insulin in a particular way,” he says. “If you don’t know what you’re doing with insulin, you can cause more harm than good. When we changed his dosing, all the dizziness and headaches just disappeared – he was back to functioning and he was able to drive. He was amazed, having thought his symptoms were just how his condition was.”
Another new patient’s records revealed that she was overdue for a colonoscopy which, when eventually completed, picked up a curable bowel cancer. “This highlights while it is so important to follow up on check-up reminders, she hadn’t realised the test was overdue. Her cancer had been there a while. Had it been left another six months, it may well have spread and she would then have been much less likely to be cured.”
As well as diabetes, Dr Sadler has an interest in kidney medicine, having spent 12 months as the registrar running the Bundaberg dialysis unit under the direction of a consultant. He now splits his days between his Ochre practice and working in the urology clinic at Sunshine Coast University Hospital, as well as looking after his small children and educating the next wave of general practitioners.
Having lived and worked everywhere from Holland to Shepparton and Mt Isa, Dr Sadler and his family plan to settle here permanently. “We came back to the wider area to be near family for the birth of our fourth child,” he says. “We’ve now chosen Maleny because the countryside is beautiful, the schools are good and we’ve found one that works for our kids. We also wanted to have a small amount of land to grow veggies. The kids said, ‘the first thing we’re getting when we move is chooks!’ We raised chooks from eggs a few years back and they used to ride around on the kids’ shoulders! Unfortunately we had to give them away when we recently moved properties.”
“Now we don’t want to move around anymore, so we are staying put! We’ve never lived in one house for more than three years, but now we are ready to change that and put roots down.”
Dr Sadler will be accepting new patients at Ochre Medical Centre Maleny. Bookings can be made via ochrehealth.com.au or by calling the practice on 5494 2388
About Ochre Health
Established in 2002 and still owned by two procedural GPs, Ochre Health is a leading provider of primary healthcare. The company has a network of over 60 medical centres around Australia and partners with over 400 doctors. Built on a founding purpose of supporting doctors and improving health in its communities, it is unique amongst its peers in recording and reporting on patient health outcomes. The Ochre Health Group also includes Ochre Recruitment, a medical recruitment business working with hospitals and medical practices throughout Australia and New Zealand on sourcing and placing quality locum and permanent doctors across a wide range of specialities.