MEMBERS
DR. Who
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
RAYMOND ORTHOBER, MD
Aaron Burch
D
r. Raymond Orthober’s medical career was built on a
very successful dare.
After graduating from the University of Louisville
with a degree in psychology, Dr. Orthober was still a
long way from knowing his path in life. He was playing
guitar in bands around Louisville, always staying near the Highlands
neighborhood he called home.
“So, my friend dared me to take an EMT class, knowing I had no
interest in the human body,” Dr. Orthober recalled. “It was basic
CPR, basic stop the bleeding, anatomy and physiology. But, I was
unexpectedly and completely transformed by the experience of
health care and aiding someone in an emergency situation.”
The four-month class led Dr. Orthober to immediately begin a
deeper dive into the world of health care. He began an 18-month
course sponsored by Jefferson County EMS, back when Jefferson
County and Louisville EMS were separate entities, which translated
to more responsibility and the abilities necessary to really begin
making a difference in an emergency setting.
“I was hooked by that point. My roommate wanted to go to med-
ical school, so we both enrolled in pre-med classes while I took a
job as a paramedic on the street. That’s how I progressed,” he said.
The role of paramedic was an exciting one, laden with respon-
sibility. Dr. Orthober realized quickly that he must transfer the
cognitive skills he’d been learning from the book to the street, and
apply them in the heat of the moment.
“Everyone achieves that goal at a different speed, but that’s
when you know you’ve got it. Things like early defibrillation, good
high-quality CPR, being able to splint pulseless extremities, all things
that in the first five minutes of patient care can possibly change an
outcome days or months later. That’s when you’ve achieved your
goal of being a good practitioner of medicine.”
In 1996, Dr. Orthober packed for medical school. The destination
was Ross University on the Caribbean island of Dominica. While
he said the medical school decision was based on necessity, for a
man who loves to travel, spending four years in the Caribbean is
not a harsh punishment.
“I realized this was my opportunity, and I had to completely throw
myself in and dedicate 150,000 percent to be successful. There was
no other option,” said Dr. Orthober.
In 2001, Dr. Orthober returned to Louisville and began a residency
in family medicine. Once that was complete, he immediately began
a residency in emergency medicine.
“I already had a relationship with the department of family med-
icine, and I thought that was where my career was going. But, once
you’re bitten by emergency medicine, you can’t get rid of it.”
Later on, as a UofL professor teaching medical students, Dr.
Orthober would describe being an emergency medicine doctor as
such: “We’re easily distracted by shiny objects. In the emergency
room, I have 50 active patients in all different stages of work-up.
My distraction by shiny objects allows me to scan the room and
notice that Bed One’s oxygen saturation is a little lower, Bed Three
isn’t moving his foot anymore and may be having a stroke, Bed
Five’s heartbeat monitor has dipped to 20-something. We have to be
distracted by these shiny objects so that we’re able to laser-focus on
those early warning signs for a deterioration of patient condition.”
In 2005, Dr. Orthober’s residency came to an end. He began
working for Norton Healthcare and remained part time faculty at
UofL. The real excitement was happening behind the scenes as he
responded to an advertisement in the back of an academic journal
that simply stated “Want to go to Antarctica? Call this number.”
“I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll bite,’ and I’ve been going ever since,” he said.
As part of the blossoming Antarctic tourism industry, Dr. Or-
thober travels from South America to the Antarctic Peninsula each
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Editor’s Note: Welcome to Louisville Medicine’s member spotlight section, Dr. Who? In the interest of simply getting to know each other
as a society of colleagues, we’ll be highlighting random GLMS physicians on a regular basis. If you would like to recommend any GLMS
physician member to the Editorial Board for this section, please e-mail [email protected] or call him at 736-6338.
DECEMBER 2017
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