Addenbrooke’s nurse honoured by the King for courageous search and rescue mission after Morocco earthquakes
An Addenbrooke’s emergency department nurse had an audience with the King in recognition of her courageous work on a search and rescue mission after terrifying earthquakes in Morocco.
Deborah Swann was among the first people invited to Buckingham Palace to receive the new Humanitarian Medal conferred by King Charles.
The medal, announced in July 2023, is a national form of recognition for public servants and organisation members contributing to global humanitarian responses on behalf of the government.
Deborah, a Royal College of Emergency Medicine advanced clinical practitioner in ED, was deployed in September 2023 with the UK International Search and Rescue team (UK ISAR).
Months earlier, she joined a similar mission to Turkey following its devastating earthquakes, as we reported.
She said: “It was a privilege to have an audience with the King and an absolute honour to be among the first cohort to receive the medal.”
Deborah and her medical team colleagues faced windy flying conditions as they boarded a Chinook helicopter and treacherous mountain roads as they travelled to the scene in an Army truck to reach some of the most remote villages in Morocco, with rockfalls and landslides crashing around them.
They set up a base camp and medical tent, and carried out a search with dogs, but were unable to find any survivors among the flattened buildings.
The 10-day mission to Morocco took place in soaring temperatures - unlike in Turkey, where she worked in sub-zero conditions and found multiple survivors among semi-collapsed buildings in Hatay province and Antakya city.
Deborah said: “By the nature of how buildings are constructed in the remote villages we visited in Morocco, there were very few left standing.
“Although we could find no survivors, my overwhelming memory will be of the gratitude of those that we did manage to help. It was an incredible experience and different to Turkey in so many ways.”
Deborah joined UKISAR 13 years ago following a gruelling selection process that recognised skills that push the boundaries of nursing.
In addition to her ED role, she works in pre-hospital emergency medicine in Birmingham, is qualified in confined space work, working at height, in water rescue and expedition medicine.
UK ISAR is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and can deploy on behalf of the government within a six- to 10-hour timeframe from a designated national point of departure. It includes personnel from 14 of the UK’s fire and rescue services, with support from medical teams, structural engineers and vets.
