Drs Steve Gilchrist and Louise Draper were able to finance their dream home
For doctors Steve Gilchrist and Louise Draper, finding a bank to finance their dream home was hard. Then they called BOQ Specialist.
Learn MoreBuying a home closer to his place of work has made the life much easier and more enjoyable.
6.5 minutes
Dr Prabhakar Ramachandran is possibly one of the only medical physicists to have qualified in three countries: Australia, India and the USA. His demanding role requires him to work long hours to ensure the safety of some of the most vulnerable cancer patients in Victoria.
When his long work hours were compounded with a five-hour daily commute from his place of residence in central Victoria to his workplace, Moorabbin Hospital in the Melbourne suburbs, he wasn’t getting much change from his day to see his young family, let alone to see a bank specialist to organise the purchase of a home closer to work.
A specialised practice in rural Victoria
Dr Ramachandran moved to Australia with his family in 2010 after visiting the year before and being impressed by the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre’s physical sciences department. He saw the potential to work in his highly specialised field at the respected cancer hospital. His first port of call was Bendigo, where he lived and worked for his first few years in the country.
Dr Ramachandran’s work focuses on the application of physics to medicine—specifically, radiotherapy for cancer patients. “I work in the radiation oncology department of Peter MacCallum, ensuring the accurate delivery of radiotherapy. This includes the dose, delivering treatment at the right angle to tackle a tumour and looking after different modalities,” Dr Ramachandran explains. “I oversee treatment plans, check the parameters and these then go to the radiologist who delivers treatment to patients.”
Balancing research with saving lives
Dr Ramachandran is responsible for supervising routine checks, quality assurance and calibration of the equipment that delivers radiotherapy to patients. He is also involved in radiation safety for staff—he monitors the dose those working at the hospital are receiving over the longer term to ensure this is within safety guidelines.
In addition to this important work, Dr Ramachandran manages to undertake a considerable volume of research and teaching work. He has produced 40 published, peer-reviewed papers, he supervises two PhD students and one postgraduate student and he lectures in medical radiation at RMIT University.
The long commute
But it was the combination of his extraordinary workload with daily long-distance travel to Melbourne that really proved problematic. “I was living in Bendigo and when I started working in Moorabbin, I faced five months of long commutes,” he says. “I was driving for 2.5 hours each way so, depending upon my workload, I was leaving at around 6am and returning at close to midnight on some days.”
This was untenable for a man with a young family, and something had to give. Dr Ramachandran needed to secure a family home much closer to his place of work. He started to investigate financial institutions. He had been dealing with one of the big banks until his accountant suggested BOQ Specialist.
The easy solution
The administration involved in purchasing and refinancing property is considerable. Dr Ramachandran’s line of work requires close concentration and the stakes are high—the wellbeing of vulnerable, immunocompromised patients is in his hands. It’s work that can’t be interrupted by the vagaries of banking administration—things like getting an appointment, chasing up approvals and taking time to go off-site for meetings about loans.
With his BOQ Specialist’s help, Dr Ramachandran was able to handle the documentation over email—there was no need for time-consuming meetings and paperwork. “BOQ Specialist did all the legwork,” Dr Ramachandran says. “They were responsive, prompt and helpful—they were contactable and available after hours, which was crucial for me.”
Balancing work and home
As a result, Dr Ramachandran has more time to devote to his work and more time for his family. “Along with the shorter commute, I wanted my boys, in grades two and six, to have access to good schooling,” he says. “McKinnon Secondary College has a great reputation, and we are now within the catchment.”
And as for the commute to work, it has altered dramatically. “It now takes me 10 minutes to reach the office, and there’s a railway station within 500 metres of our house,” Dr Ramachandran says. “Everything we need is within a two-kilometre radius of home. So, our quality of life has really improved.”
In the market for a home loan? Click on the link to find out more about our tailored financial solutions for home loans. Ready to take the next step? Contact us to find out how we can tailor a finance solution for you, or call us on 1300 160 160.
