The Gold Coast’s John Flynn Private Hospital has put together 200 first aid packs featuring essential medical equipment for victims of the recent rain and flooding on Australia’s east coast.
The gesture is part of a wider effort by Ramsay Health Care teams to give back to communities affected by recent severe weather events.
Ramsay Health Care Australia CEO, Carmel Monaghan, praised the teams from the Sunshine Coast to the south coast of NSW for rallying around one another during the flood emergency.
“I want to thank all of our amazing teams for their collaboration, compassion and leadership in the face of this severe weather event,” she said.
“I am especially grateful to those people who have stepped up to help when their colleagues were cut off by floodwater and could not get to work. Their dedication has minimised impacts to our patients, without them, more surgeries would have had to be postponed.
“For example, people like Emma Harrold from St Andrew’s Ipswich Private Hospital in Queensland stepped up without hesitation to work double shifts and source staff at very short notice to meet the needs of patients. Emma also provided emotional support to a number of staff triggered by the weather event due to their previous experience in the 2011 floods.”
At Mt Wilga Private Hospital in NSW, managers also led by example by quite literally digging in, shovelling trenches, sweeping water and sandbagging to help protect the facility.
On the Sunshine Coast, Ramsay teams went above and beyond, supporting patients from nearby Wandi Nerida (part of the Butterfly Foundation) when the centre was evacuated due to flooding.
“These are great examples of our Ramsay values in action,” Ms Monaghan said.
“We’ve been very fortunate that so far property damage is minimal. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and encourage our people to be vigilant and keep across the latest official updates and advice from emergency services.”
