50 years ago today (more or less) An arbitrary date. Sadly wars do not end with the announcement of a ceasefire. It’s more messy than that. But that’s the date…
Read More
I was 4 years old on May 8th 1945. I remember my mother's tears turning to joy, so different from anguished tears of women waving their men off to war.…
Read More
Every Remembrance Sunday, like many of you, I watch the ceremony centred on the Cenotaph in London and through the magic of television we see moving ceremonies happening across this…
Read More
Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia 1990-1994. Royal Commission Hospital, Yanbu 1995-1996. No matter how efficient the briefing in London, it did little to prepare me for the reality that was 1990s Saudi…
Read More
Alice Springs, 1972-1976. Head nurse of ER and the Out Patient department at Alice Springs General Hospital. In those days, gatherings of First Nation Australians lived on settlements surrounding a…
Read More
Cairo, 1981-1983. My first Middle East experience was like a magic carpet ride through a sensory overload of colours, smells, sights and sounds of a culture so different from my…
Read More
Cassiar, June 1966 – July 1967. Huddled comfortably at the base of the spectacular Cassiar mountains, the small hospital delivered a full range of health care and surveillance to the…
Read More
Eskimo Point, Sept 1977 – April 1978. On June 1st 1989 this Arctic settlement was renamed Arviat. This Inuktituk name means ‘place of the bow headed whale’ referring to the…
Read More
Kon Tum, 1969-1970. The Minh Quy hospital there was founded in 1959 by Dr Patricia Smith. Her concern for the Montagnard hill tribesmen inhabiting the area, grew following a year…
Read More