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Search and Rescue Medicine

SAR Training Australia draws on extensive expertise in Search and Rescue (SAR) Medicine, delivering exceptional capability across projects of any scale.

Our team of SAR Medicine and Timeframe for Survival specialists are global leaders in achieving outcomes that save lives. Led by the renowned Dr Paul Luckin AM, we are ready to provide high-end Search and Rescue solutions tailored to your organisation’s needs.

Our Team

Paul is an anaesthetist, based in Brisbane. He trained as an Ambulance Paramedic and in Ambulance Rescue in Hobart, before doing his medical undergraduate training at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and the Baragwannath Hospital in Soweto. He trained in Anaesthesia at the University of Natal and King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban and was a cardiac anaesthetist in South Africa, New Zealand and Tasmania.

Dr. Paul Luckin AM MB.BCh(Rand), DA(SA), FFA(SA), M.MED.(Anaesthesia), FANZCA Anaesthetist.

A/Prof Simon Hendel is a specialist anaesthesiologist and trauma consultant at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, one of Australia’s leading major trauma centres. He is the deputy director of the Alfred Trauma Service and is an adjunct clinical associate professor in the department of Anaesthesiology and perioperative medicine at Monash University.

Associate Professor Simon Hendel MBBS (Hons) FANZCA GD Jour AFRACMA GChPOM

Dr Ben Butson is an Emergency, Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Physician based in Townsville, North Queensland. He recently retired from long standing positions as an Emergency Physician at the Townsville University Hospital and as the Director of Northern Operations for LifeFlight Retrieval Medicine. He is an experienced pre-hospital and retrieval consultant, having co-ordinated or conducted many hundreds of aeromedical retrieval missions, including primary response rescue missions. He has decades of experience in pre-hospital and retrieval work in the Australian civilian as well as the deployed military environment. He is a Colonel in the Army Reserve, having graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy and then the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1991. He has served abroad in East Timor, Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq on multiple tours. He currently works as a Senior Medical Officer in Anaesthetics at the Mount Isa Base Hospital. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the James Cook University School of Medicine where he assists in the delivery of pre-hospital and aeromedical retrieval courses. He has worked for several years in a voluntary capacity to provide medical advice to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority as well as for State and Territory police search and rescue services. He is an avid outdoorsman with a lifetime of experience in the Australian bush and coastlines.

Associate Professor Ben Butson, CSC BSc(Hons) BMBS(Hons) FACEM FRACGP FACRRM FACHSM DipRGA Consultant Emergency and Retrieval Physician Colonel, RAAMC (Reserve)
quote
“The ultimate aim of Search and Rescue is to bring survivors home alive; medical training is an essential component of this.”
Dr. Paul Luckin AM, SAR Training Australia Medical Consultant.

Northeast Indian Ocean & Bay of Bengal - Search and Rescue Training Project 2025–2026

Delivered key Timeframe for Survival training to a range of Government and Military officials during the On-Scene Coordinator Courses and SAR Mission Coordinator Courses in Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri-Lanka (June 2025 – March 2026)

Associate Professor Ben Butson, CSC

BSc(Hons) BMBS(Hons) FACEM FRACGP FACRRM FACHSM DipRGA, Consultant Emergency and Retrieval Physician, Colonel, RAAMC (Reserve)

Dr Ben Butson is an Emergency, Pre-Hospital and Retrieval Physician based in Townsville, North Queensland. He recently retired from long standing positions as an Emergency Physician at the Townsville University Hospital and as the Director of Northern Operations for LifeFlight Retrieval Medicine. He is an experienced pre-hospital and retrieval consultant, having co-ordinated or conducted many hundreds of aeromedical retrieval missions, including primary response rescue missions. He has decades of experience in pre-hospital and retrieval work in the Australian civilian as well as the deployed military environment. He is a Colonel in the Army Reserve, having graduated from the Australian Defence Force Academy and then the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1991.  He has served abroad in East Timor, Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq on multiple tours. He currently works as a Senior Medical Officer in Anaesthetics at the Mount Isa Base Hospital. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the James Cook University School of Medicine where he assists in the delivery of pre-hospital and aeromedical retrieval courses. He has worked for several years in a voluntary capacity to provide medical advice to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority as well as for State and Territory police search and rescue services. He is an avid outdoorsman with a lifetime of experience in the Australian bush and coastlines.

Associate Professor Simon Hendel

MBBS (Hons) FANZCA GD Jour AFRACMA GChPOM

A/Prof Simon Hendel is a specialist anaesthesiologist and trauma consultant at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, one of Australia’s leading major trauma centres. He is the deputy director of the Alfred Trauma Service and is an adjunct clinical associate professor in the department of Anaesthesiology and perioperative medicine at Monash University.

His work focuses on the resuscitation and peri-operative care of severely injured patients, trauma system governance, and multidisciplinary training. Simon’s clinical and academic interests centre on improving the performance of teams and systems that must operate effectively under conditions of uncertainty, time pressure, and high consequence. In addition to his hospital role, Simon serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Australian Army Reserve, where he contributes to military medical capability and training. His work spans the intersection of healthcare, emergency response, and public safety, including advisory roles with Victoria Police and Ambulance Victoria. He also works with specialist police search and rescue teams, providing medical advice on timeframe for survivability in complex operational environments involving missing persons. A Churchill Fellow, Simon has studied international models of Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TEMS) and integrated responses between healthcare, law enforcement, and emergency services. His work explores how concepts such as distributed life-saving capability and “survival in depth” can strengthen Australia’s response to high-threat and large-scale incidents. He is also interested in translating lessons from trauma care into broader insights on leadership, decision-making, and team performance under pressure.

Dr. Paul Luckin AM

MB.BCh(Rand), DA(SA), FFA(SA), M.MED.(Anaesthesia), FANZCA Anaesthetist. CAPT RAN (Rtd)

Paul is an anaesthetist, based in Brisbane. He trained as an Ambulance Paramedic and in Ambulance Rescue in Hobart, before doing his medical undergraduate training at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and the Baragwannath Hospital in Soweto. 

He trained in Anaesthesia at the University of Natal and King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban and was a cardiac anaesthetist in South Africa, New Zealand and Tasmania.

Paul spent eight years in the Mountain Rescue Team of the Natal Section of the Mountain Club of South Africa, working in the Drakensberg Mountains. He was a Consultant and Lecturer to Accident and Emergency Medical Services Natal; Director and Lecturer on courses in Accident and Disaster Medicine for Doctors, and alternate Director of Red Cross Air Mercy Flights.

Once back in Tasmania Paul was Director of the Tasmanian Ambulance Service Advanced Airway Management Training Programme. He was President, Royal Life Saving Society Tasmania, and Convenor, State Task Force for Prevention of Drowning in the Under 5’s.

Paul teaches the medical aspects of Search and Rescue at State Police level and is on the directing staff of the National Police Search and Rescue Managers Course. He is a medical advisor to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, and Police Search and Rescue teams around the nation, providing time-frames for survival during Search and Rescue operations.
In 2005 Paul received the National Search and Rescue Award for contributions to Search and Rescue in the Australasian Region.

He is a State Councillor, former Director of Medical Services and Chairman of Training Branch, St John Ambulance Queensland. Paul has been invested as a Commander of the Order of St John (CStJ), and is a Fellow of the Royal Life Saving Society Australia.

As a Captain in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, Paul has served in Bougainville, East Timor, in the Resuscitation and Retrieval Team for the victims of the first Bali bombing, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, in the first foreign medical team into Banda Aceh following the 2004 tsunami., and in Afghanistan.

In 2015 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia, AM, for significant service to the community through emergency medicine, and as an authority on survivability in search and rescue operations.

Formal Qualifiacations

  • MB.BCh (Rand)
  • DA (SA)
  • M.MED.ANAESTHESIA (Natal)
  • FFA (SA)
  • FANZCA

Awards

  • Order of Australia
  • Australian National Search & Rescue Award
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