Surf Life Saving Tasmania | Saving Lives on the Beach & Beyond: Meet Jnr Dr. Oliver Bailey

With National Careers Week (May 11–17) underway, we are excited to highlight Devonport Surf Life Saving Club member Oliver Bailey.

Growing up in the surf life saving community, Bailey has gone on to build a career as a Junior Doctor at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

Starting Nippers at the age of four, Bailey quickly developed a love for surf life saving and started counting down the days to summer each year.

“ I just loved the beach, and I loved paddling on my board and catching waves, all the classic things. Being at the beach with your friends and getting to train together, it was really good,” Bailey said.

However, it was through the Lifesaving Development Camp in Ulverstone that Bailey discovered his passion for helping people and medicine. The seven-day camp focused on scenario-based training, giving 21 young candidates the opportunity to gain their first aid, advanced resuscitation and IRB certifications, whilst building confidence and leadership in real-world patrol situations.

“I went along to that when I was 16 years old, and that was a bit of a turning point for me. It was a really fun week,” Bailey said.

“A lot of the people running the camp were only 17 to 20 years old, and many of them were medical students who had also come through the program themselves.

“I loved the scenarios too. Getting hands-on, speaking with mock patients, and working out what was going wrong and how we could help them. I looked up to those people, and it got me thinking, ‘Is this something I could do?’”

Through these programs with Surf Life Saving Tasmania, Bailey discovered a passion for teaching, and he remains heavily involved in the same camps that inspired him as a teenager. Since attending the Ulverstone camp at 16, he has returned as a facilitator.

“I’ve come back and run seven or eight camps since. I really enjoy teaching and being able to give back to the same camp,” he said.

“Learning those skills, mentoring others, and helping people develop is very similar to a profession in medicine.”

Bailey said many of the skills he developed through surf life saving as a child and teenager continue to help him in his medical career today.

Being part of surf life saving, running camps and courses like Bronze and IRB courses, has given me exposure to lots of great teachers,” he said.

“I’ve also had a lot of hands-on experience teaching other people, and I’ve found that really valuable in my job when teaching medical students or helping my patients understand their health and treatment options.”

Despite balancing a busy work schedule, Bailey hopes to continue giving back to the community through surf life saving. He still runs IRB courses in his spare time and would love to return to the Lifesaving Development Camp again this summer.

“That’s definitely one of my favourite parts of being involved with SLST. I’d love to continue doing that for as long as I can.”