Doctor set to join medical charity
The ranks of Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS) are about to increase with the induction of Dr Fiona Virgo as a new specialist emergency medical volunteer on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border.
After her induction is completed in March, Dr Virgo will be able to respond to serious incidents within a ten mile radius of her home in Great Bradley, including the Haverhill and Newmarket areas.
Dr Virgo is currently working in A & E at the West Suffolk Hospital and has several years’ experience as a general surgeon and also has spent time working in Australia doing Emergency Medicine.
Dr Virgo, who is now in the process of re-training to be a GP, said: “I’m really looking forward to volunteering for SARS so I can use and build on my experience and contribute towards maintaining the high level of pre-hospital care in the county.”
This increases the charity’s quota of members around the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border area to four. Each member is either a doctor or critical care paramedic and volunteers for SARS in their spare time and without any payment.
The induction of Dr Virgo, like all SARS members was made possible by local fund-raising and current chair of SARS, Dr Fiona Andrews highlighted this as she welcomed Dr Virgo to the charity,
“Without the support of local funders, our charity wouldn’t exist.
“We would like to put on record our thanks to all the individuals, businesses, parish councils and local trusts that have supported us this year.
“It is only through their continued support that we are able to fund new equipment and new members and continue to help local people when they really need urgent specialist medical care.”
Dr Virgo spent her early years in East Africa and The Gulf where her father worked.
The family returned to the UK, settling in Suffolk, where she attended school at Thurlow Primary followed by Barnardiston Hall and Culford.
She went on to study medicine at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London.
After surviving the hours of a first year junior doctor, Dr Virgo spent three years working in Australia in Queensland and then Darwin, doing emergency medicine, helicopter retrievals and intensive care.
On her return to England she did her surgical training in Bristol before working as a breast and general surgeon in Dumfries for six years.
Dr Virgo has now returned to Suffolk where she has spent two years in A&E at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds and is now retraining as a GP to enable her to redress her work-life balance and spend more time with her two little girls, Murron and Isla.
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Weather for Haverhill
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
