{"id":8335,"date":"2020-10-30T02:00:47","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T18:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/curtin-alum-beats-pandemic-with-large-scale-effort\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:10:19","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:10:19","slug":"curtin-alum-beats-pandemic-with-large-scale-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/curtin-alum-beats-pandemic-with-large-scale-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"Curtin alum beats pandemic with large-scale effort"},"content":{"rendered":"
Plans cancelled, jobs lost and futures put on hold. Globally, life has been by eclipsed by the COVID-19 pandemic. But in Western Australia (fingers crossed), things are almost back to a ‘new normal’.<\/p>\n
Standing at the helm of WA\u2019s successful health response to the virus is Dr Andy Robertson, WA\u2019s Chief Health Officer and Curtin public health alumnus.<\/p>\n
From his command centre in East Perth, where every inch of wall is covered in digital screens, maps, posters and notices like a scene from a detective novel, Dr Robertson leads and coordinates multiple teams to ensure the state\u2019s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 the most significant health crisis since the Spanish Influenza in 1918.<\/p>\n
Under his broad direction are frontline medical staff, contact tracers, public health campaigners, roadside testers, equipment procurers and hotel quarantine coordinators, just to name a few.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually had a couple of plans \u2013 we had a State Health Emergency Response Plan, an Infectious Disease Emergency Management Plan, and we also had a Respiratory Illness Disease Emergency Response Plan,\u201d he says on his department\u2019s preparedness for a future health crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d learned from the 2009 swine flu and the 2014\/15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, but the scale of this is quite different.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plans helped us set up governance fairly robustly, but as the classic quote goes: \u2018no plan survives first contact with the enemy\u2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cWe had to learn on the job. As we got a better understanding of the disease and its ramifications, we updated our plans, and will continue to update them as we move towards a vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Helping communities get back on their feet<\/h2>\n
Dr Robertson\u2019s ability to finely coordinate large-scale public health efforts has been honed over many decades of working in public health and disaster management, including leading disaster response teams in many parts of the world.<\/p>\n
In December 2004, he led the Australian Medical Relief team into the Maldives following the Boxing Day tsunami; in 2005 he managed WA Health\u2019s response to the Bali bombings and again in June 2006 following the Yogyakarta earthquakes. In 2011, he was the Radiation Health Adviser to the Australian Embassy after the Fukushima nuclear incident, and in 2015 he co-led the forward Australian Medical Assistance Team in Nepal after the Gorkha earthquake.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy proudest moments have been providing public health and medical services to areas which really need some help at the time, getting them through a difficult period until their own services can get back on their feet,\u201d he reflects.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nDr Robertson ready to board the RAAF plane to Kathmandu, to assist Nepal’s recovery efforts after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Dr Robertson\u2019s genuine desire to assist others, coupled with his ability to remain calm in a crisis and see the bigger picture, were first forged during his service with the Royal Australian Navy as a medical officer. His work involved treating the ship\u2019s crew on naval deployments in South East Asia and the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was always work to do \u2013 running primary care clinics, preparing for exercises, educating staff or preparing for health operations ashore,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
Later, he worked for the Navy as a Biological Weapons Chief Inspector for the United Nations Special Commission, which involved completing three tours of Iraq in 1996\/97.<\/p>\n
\u201cIraq denied having biological weapons, and a lot of the paperwork and facilities had been destroyed, so we were looking for evidence of the biological weapons program, visiting facilities and trying to pull it all together.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Dr Robertson recalls one particularly heated moment during a joint biological and chemical mission in 1997 where \u201cwe had guns pointed in our direction.\u201d Not one to embellish, he ends the tale with \u201cfortunately we were able to get some resolution of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skirting death rattles the best of defence personnel, but Dr Robertson says he was lucky to always have a supportive team to talk to and share experiences with. His travels made him doubly appreciative of life back home, and of our universal pursuit of happiness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is always a contrast when you go to different countries, but the thing in common was the basic humanity of most people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the Iraqis were very hospitable \u2013 the government wasn\u2019t! \u2013 but the man in the street just wanted to basically have a job and look after their families and hope that things would continue to improve. Their aspirations were not dissimilar to most of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Dr](\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Andy-Robertson_Nepal-792x420.jpg\")