The LHD has welcomed Marcus Wilson to the role of Acting Disaster Manager.
Marcus (pictured) comes to the LHD with a background in Defence, having served almost 14 years, mostly as a medic. He said the highlights of his time in the ADF were serving as a Peace Monitor in Bougainville in 1998 and being a foundation member of the Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) Response Squadron for the 2000 Olympic Games. “The time I spent in this role has served me well in my post defence career also,” he said.
He left the Army in 2002, and worked for the Queensland Ambulance Service in risk management between 2004-06, which involved sitting on the Whole-of-State Pandemic Planning Taskforce and designing/implementing a comprehensive PPE program for on road staff.
From 2006-2017, he established and operated a medical services company in Kabul, Afghanistan, that served the staff of non-governmental organisations and the United Nations across the country. The services provided included fixed and rotary wing aeromedical retrieval to domestic and international hospitals; emergency road ambulance retrieval; and occupational health screening. “The writing was on the wall as they say as 2016-17 saw a worsening of the security situation across the country. The risks very quickly outweighed the rewards and my wife and I left Kabul with essentially the clothes on our backs,” he recalls.
Not long after arriving back home, he secured employment with the RFDS as the Broken Hill Base Manager until 2019. It was during this time his family moved out here and they fell in love with the lifestyle and people of the Far West.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the FWLHD again and in an area I am particularly excited about. I hope to use the skills and experience I have gained to make a meaningful contribution to the LHD and improve/ protect the communities we serve,” he said.
