The Big Questions: Deployed to Disasters - dealing with health crises at scale
Welcome back to The Big Questions Seminar Series from the Department of Critical Care at the University of Melbourne.
Drawing on field experience, operational insights and recent research, Associate Professor Peter Archer and Senior Lecturer Marion Orchison share lessons learned from frontline responses—highlighting the complexity, collaboration, and adaptability required when responding to crises at scale, including the evolving capacity and standards of Emergency Medical Assistance Teams in Victoria
Speakers:
A/Prof Peter Archer is an emergency physician at the Royal Children's Hospital and retrieval physician with Ambulance Victoria. He also holds current roles with Victorias Field Emergency Medical Officer Program, as an AUSMAT team member and a WHO Global Emergency Medical Teams Mentor with Indonesia's Muhammadiyah EMT. Peter has an interest in disaster and retrieval medicine teaching and holds honorary positions with University of Melbourne and Charles Darwin University.
He has previously held a Medical Director role with the disaster response team at the National Critical Care & Trauma Response Centre and as director of emergency services at Eastern health. He has been involved in disaster team responses including the Victorian Field Emergency Medical officer (FEMO) program, AUSMAT COVID-19 response; 2020 Victorian Bushfires; 2019 Samoan Measles Outbreak; 2018 PNG Highlands Earthquake; 2018 Tongan Cyclone Gita; 2016 Fiji Cyclone Winston; 2015 USAID Liberian Ebola response; 2013 Philippines Typhoon Haiyan and 2009 Victorian Black Saturday Bushfires.
Marion Orchison is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Critical Care and Coordinator of the Disaster and Terror Medicine Graduate Program. An accomplished humanitarian with more than 15 years' experience in disaster preparedness and response, Marion has worked as an Emergency Specialist, Humanitarian Program Officer and Capacity Building Specialist for UNICEF, UNOCHA and The World Food Programme. Marion has worked for over a decade in adult learning including with the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT), Danish Refugee Council, RedR Australia and CARE Australia, supporting technical personnel to understand disaster management systems and approaches and preparing technical personal to respond to disasters. She has a Master’s in International Communication and a background in political science research. Marion has a particular interest in the role of communication and community engagement in disaster preparedness.