Briefs Multi-agency training exercise
In May, the QAS took part in a multi-agency training exercise at the Brisbane Airport’s new runway which simulated a ‘crash’ scenario to test the emergency services response. Undertaken with our QPS and QFES counterparts and airport stakeholders, this was the first time a training exercise had been held since the COVID-19 restrictions. These scenarios provide a valuable learning experience, ensuring a consistent level of knowledge, understanding and collaboration exists between all emergency response agencies and airport stakeholders in the rare event a crisis occurs. Consisting of a paramedic crew, the Emergency Support Unit and a supervisor, the team went through their triage procedures and prepared to receive a large volume of ‘casualties’.
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QAS farewells trailblazer One of the leading experts in the field of trauma care, highly‑respected Associate Professor Cliff Pollard was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation for his unwavering dedication to the QAS over many years following his resignation from the Medical Advisory Committee in May. Commissioner Russell Bowles said the world class standard of prehospital care provided to trauma patients by the QAS, was largely due to Associate Professor Pollard’s collaborative support, education and mentorship over the last 25 years. Associate Professor Pollard’s patient supervision, instruction and encouragement made him a vital member of the QAS education teams, particularly in recent years with the High Acuity Response Unit Critical Care Paramedics. Numerous paramedics are indebted
Winter 2020
to his instruction and wisdom and have benefited from his many decades of surgical experience. Associate Professor Pollard’s overriding advice at surgical sessions, ‘Don’t create a second lethal injury’, will remain engrained within the QAS’s trauma teachings. The QAS will miss Associate Professor Pollard’s willingness to share knowledge and his calm disposition and humble personality, all of which ensured paramedics quickly gained confidence under his instruction. Associate Professor Pollard received an Order of Australia Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2015 for his significant service to medicine in the field of trauma care and through contributions to health policy and reform in Queensland. He is the former Chair of Queensland’s Statewide Trauma Network. He was also the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Director of Trauma and the Director of the Queensland Trauma Registry at the Centre of National Research in Disability and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Queensland.
