Red Cross nurse circulates petition
While the world grapples with the invisible Covid-19 virus, those on the front line in New Zealand may soon be rewarded with a visible token of their sacrifice.
Central Hawke’s Bay resident and Red Cross nurse Andrew Cameron is circulating a petition to award front line health professionals the New Zealand Special Service Medal for their work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Andrew is no stranger to working on the front line himself, having spent 15 of his 44-year nursing career in the war zones of Iraq, South Sudan and Afghanistan.
He is also the recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal, The Iraq Medal, the Order of Australia Medal and the Afghanistan Medal.
He says the idea of the petition came from colleague and pilot Alan Ward from Whangarei, whose successful petition in 2017 for the issuance of a New Zealand Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal was presented to and accepted by the New Zealand parliament.
Andrew believes our front line health professionals are particularly deserving of the Special Service Medal he is proposing.
“We are in a war against this deadly virus and the people most at risk of contracting the virus are health professionals such as nurses and doctors in intensive care units caring for known cases, people reaching into the mouths of the public taking nasopharyngeal swabs at drive-through clinics, triage nurses in emergency departments sorting the serious presentations from the less serious, and the laboratory workers dealing with live virus.”
He says many of these kinds of clinicians overseas have contracted the virus and more than a few have died in the line of duty.
“Fortunately this has not occurred in New Zealand, however the danger of such an outcome is ever-present. It is great that we are often thanked by members of the public for selfless work, but in years to come when Covid-19 has passed into obscurity it would be fitting for frontline health workers to have a tangible memento of these times, just as a soldier does for the years subsequent to his or her return from battle.”
Having himself recently returned from deployment in Afghanistan, Andrew is well aware of the importance of his colleagues.
“The average Joe and Flo nurse/doctor seem to have been neglected here, hence my attempt to address this.
“This is about people such as my colleagues Vanessa, Judy, Louise and Sandra at the CHB Health Centre who are dealing with the pandemic, risking their lives and livelihoods — and deserve something to pin on their blazer and proudly wear at a future ANZAC Day dawn service.”
The New Zealand Special Service Medal has been issued on three previous occasions — following nuclear testing in the Pacific, for personnel dealing with the aftermath of the Mt Erebus aviation disaster and for aid workers who went to assist following the Asian tsunami.
“Here we find ourselves in the worst pandemic since the Spanish Influenza catastrophe a century ago, so the time has come for a fourth to be warranted.”
Andrew says the UK government issued the Ebola Medal for their medical and nursing nationals who ventured to West Africa in 2014 and put their lives on the line to deal with that tragedy.
“The Canadians, British and Americans also have a range of medallic recognition for such special situations.”
Andrew’s petition is circulating via social media and he believes will be presented to parliament by MP the Hon
Alistair Scott and then to the Prime Minister who will have to make a decision.
“If affirmative, approval is sought from the Queen for royal assent. If given, the New Zealand Herald of Arms Extraordinary, currently Philip O’Shea, designs the medal and chooses a colour for the ribbon.”
With a little more than two weeks until the Friday, June 5 deadline, Andrew says that date could be extended if required.
“Let’s see how much support there is closer to the deadline, but it’s not a problem to extend it.”
■ The petition is available for anybody to sign at https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/ petitions/document/PET_97678/petition-ofandrew-cameron-issue-a-covid-19-newzealand and anyone can sign it