Churchill Fellowship: Aeromedical retrieval in disasters

Emily Ragus is the Disaster Liaison Clinical Nurse Consultant for the Health Disaster Management Unit as well as an Emergency Nurse at the Royal Brisbane Hospital. In 2016 when Emily was working as a flight nurse, she was involved in a large-scale aeromedical retrieval evacuation, post bus crash, of multiple Australian citizens in Vanuatu. During this deployment, she witnessed the varying standards of care that these patients received, which included differing processes of individual aeromedical retrieval organisations. This incident inspired Emily to apply for the Sir Winston Churchill Fellowship, which in 2018 she was awarded the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre fellowship. This research focused on the standardisation process of private aeromedical retrieval companies and their integration with World Health Organisation verified Emergency Medical Teams such as the Australian Medical Assistance Team -AUSMAT. The Winston Churchill Fellowship allowed Emily the opportunity to be surrounded by world leaders in New York where she completed a diploma of International Humanitarian Assistance at Fordham University. After graduating in America she proceeded to conduct interviews across Europe with industry leaders from the United Nations, government bodies and private enterprise. These interviews were collated into a report outlining recommendations for quality improvement and patient care for Australians who require air ambulances when travelling overseas.

Please Note: This event is for Queensland Health staff only

Emily Ragus

Emily Ragus is an emergency nurse who has worked for the last five years as a helicopter trauma retrievalist. Currently, Emily is the Disaster Liaison Clinical Nurse Consultant for the Health Disaster Management Unit, as part of this role she is the Queensland coordinator for both the Major Incident Medical Management and Support disaster education program, as well as the state coordinator for the WHO verified Emergency Medical Team, AUSMAT. Emily is the 2018 Winston Churchill Fellow, where she travelled to both America and Europe to research standardisation of aeromedical retrieval teams including their integration with WHO EMTs in disasters or humanitarian crisis. This research came from her experience during a mass casualty aeromedical retrieval event in Vanuatu in 2016. Emily has just returned from working in Geneva as a tutor for Fordham University on a health humanitarian course, which collaborates with both the United Nations and major NGOs, to better equip humanitarians when being deployed.