Dr. Christoph is a General Practitioner who honed his skills under the tutelage of world class consultants and then went off to ply his trade, both on- and off-shore, in often remote and sometimes austere, settings. This has given him a bag full of medical and flying stories to tell!
Mission & Values
Dr. Christoph's mission is to provide exceptional service for patient satisfaction, while upholding his core values based on the Four Pillars of Medical Ethics:
1. Beneficence - to do good.
2. Non-maleficence - first, do no harm.
3. Autonomy - patients, if able, are free to choose.
4. Justice - fairness.
Cruise Docs get to see the sites!
During the Covid-19 Pandemic lock down period 2020 - 2021, cruise lines temporarily mothballed their ships.
I served on a cruise ship which was anchored off San Diego, California. This state of torpid limbo lasted months. We were under minimum manning levels. That means, only the most essential staff were on board to maintain the vessel. A ship which normally carried thousands, now barely housed a hundred. No passengers.
For me, an aviation lover, being so close to Naval Air Station North Island, was pure bliss...airshow heaven twenty-four seven!
If the Seahawk helicopters were not busy practicing their submarine hunting skills in the waters all around the ship, then it was F-18 fighter jets shooting touch and goes...often passing right overhead in full afterburner.
And there was another unexpected bonus: the ominous drumroll of Navy SEALS' guns.... carried to us on the evening breeze from their training base on Coronado Island, a couple of miles away...
Have a look at Dr. Christoph's library...which is a work in progress.
The USS Midway (CV-41) museum in San Diego is top notch.
Occasionally the ship lifted anchor and sailed into San Diego harbor to berth at the cruise terminal. U.S Customs & Border Protection (CBP) agents watched us closely for any breaches of COVID-19 protocols as we refueled, resupplied and changed crew at a frenetic pace.
I stole a couple of minutes and through the bridge windows, longingly gazed at the hulking USS Miway museum, there but a short walk away, anchored off our starboard bow.
And I remembered times gone by when I visited it, every time I was off duty and in port. That was long before COVID and the restrictions it brought. Would we ever be free again?
But now we are free and if ever you find yourself in San Diego with a couple of hours to spare, then give it a visit. You won't regret it. Maybe you'll get lucky and sit at the feet of Vern Jumper...as I once did.
Vern is one of the museum docents and tells fascinating stories about his life, serving on the Midway as a naval aviator at war. (Vern is not only one of the founding members of Top Gun, but his story of the fall of Saigon, at the end of the Vietnam War, is both sad and inspirational.)
Sometimes, oil rigs require a doctor to replace the rig medic.
This normally happens when the rig repositions...either piggy back aboard a specialised float-on / float off vessel or otherwise, at the end of a tug line.
I was on a couple of rig tows. All had their own unique challenges that made for character forming experiences!
