QAS INSIGHT | Summer 2017-18 edition

Global good wishes for Hervey Bay farewell

Paramedic Graeme Cooper and PTO Danielle Kellan were transporting a patient to the local hospital's palliative care unit when she said she wished she could be at the beach again … a little diversion (or two) to give her that special last opportunity brought comforting closure, sweet tears and worldwide support.

Within 36 hours of the Facebook post, the global impact of Danielle's and Graeme's kindness was becoming vividly apparent: the story had been broadcast by Fox News and the BBC and had been reported by a range of mastheads, from The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Express to The New York Post and the Huffington Times. "It was basically going to be her last journey back to her house where she was going to pass away," said Graeme. "She was saying how she moved to Hervey Bay with her husband on the spur of the moment and they've been here ever since. "She said she loved the esplanade and the beach and we said, 'well, do you want us to take you down by the esplanade and pop you out of the truck and give you a look at the ocean?' "She was just ecstatic. If you're sensitive to your surroundings and what's going on and you can seize a small window of opportunity, take it." By 2.30pm on November 24, the QAS Facebook post had been shared more than 6,500 times, liked by 22,000 people and attracted more than 1,600 comments. Two weeks later, as this edition of INSIGHT closed for print at 6.00pm on December 4, the shares had almost quadrupled (24,000), likes had more than doubled (47,000) and comments more than tripled to 5,100 – and the ripples are a long way from ending, as an online search will reveal.

The picture has since been shared to many other news sites and viewed tens of millions of times globally, and counting. "You may have already seen the picture," wrote Caroline Overington in her column in The Weekend Australian in its November 25-26 edition. "The photograph went viral for a million reasons, starting with the kindness of the paramedics in such circumstances. There was also their willingness to break protocol and take a little time out of their day for somebody else. "Human beings are capable of such grace and tenderness. We don't celebrate it often enough." The story had been 'reported worldwide, making headlines in Britain, Wales, Scotland, England, Germany, Canada and across the United States,' noted SBS. Graeme said that he and Danielle ended up taking the patient to the beach twice – and he made sure he picked 'a really good spot' too. "We actually got called to bring her back to the hospital … and we said, 'how about that beach run again?' and she said, 'oh, could we?' and we said, 'absolutely'. “We popped her up on the hill where she could see the pier and Fraser Island and right through to Point Burrum and she was ecstatic with it all,” he said.

In a post on the QAS Facebook page on November 22, we said that 'this story told to us by Helen Donaldson, the Officer-in-Charge of Hervey Bay, is too good not to share' … and little did we appreciate the magnitude of the impact of that story at the time. That initial post noted that a crew was: "transporting a patient to the palliative care unit of the local hospital and the patient expressed that she just wished she could be at the beach again. "Above and beyond, the crew took a small diversion to the awesome beach at Hervey Bay to give the patient this opportunity – tears were shed and the patient felt very happy. "Sometimes it is not the drugs, nor training nor skills – sometimes all you need is empathy to make a difference." And there, with congratulations to the great work of Danielle and Graeme – "the Service is very proud of you" – it might have ended … except that it did not, and this truly heartwarming story went viral around the world to an astonishing degree. Within 24 hours, the story had been picked up by not only Queensland media outlets such as The Fraser Coast Chronicle, The Courier-Mail and The Brisbane Times, but also had received national coverage through the ABC and SBS, News.com.au and many more media organisations.

18

Summer 2017–18