FACEM awarded Australian Operational Service Medal for aid in Afghanistan
FACEM Assistant Professor Luke Jeremijenko humbly says that his 25 years of service in the Australia Defence Force (ADF) have not been “the most illustrious military career”.
That critical self-assessment softened in April this year, when he became one of only two doctors to be ever awarded the Australian Operational Service Medal (Civilian) for his work providing medical aid and conducting aeromedical retrievals of Afghanistan refugees. Dr John Parker – his colleague on the same operation – was also honoured, along with nursing staff.
The Australian Operational Service Medal (Civilian) may be awarded to Defence civilians, and other classes of civilians who are employed on ADF operations under the provisions of the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982.
His selection as “the best boy for the job” was, Luke says, due to his extensive paediatric emergency, retrieval medicine and dual GP and emergency medicine qualifications.
“It was amazing to play a small part in Australia’s largest humanitarian airlift operations in our history.”
Afghanistan, 2021
In August 2021, with rapid deterioration in Afghanistan’s security situation, thousands of Afghans were attempting to escape the Taliban’s insurgency and ultimate takeover of the country. In response, the Australian Government committed to evacuating Afghans under the humanitarian visa program, with a particular focus on supporting women and girls.
After being asked by his commanding officer to deploy as a civilian with Aspen Medical – a private company utilised by the ADF to manage aeromedical retrievals in remote communities and inhospitable terrain, including conflict zones – Luke arrived in Dubai within 24 hours.
“It was amazing to play a small part in Australia's largest humanitarian airlift operations in our history,” he says.
FACEM training crucial
Luke credits ACEM’s exceptional training as facilitating his ability to deal with cases that went beyond primary care, to include everything from gunshot wounds, to seizures, to diabetic comas, and “the entire gamut of medical aid to people who really hadn’t been able to receive much medical support”.
“We set up in a tent in the middle of a desert. It was a very challenging environment, with limited resources, temperatures over 50 degrees and an impending COVID-19 outbreak.”
Fortunately, he says, they managed to control the outbreak of COVID-19 through strict military hygiene principles and practices learnt from World War 1 and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.
Fifteen per cent of all their patients, Luke says, were under the age of five. Thirty percent were under the age of 10.
“We also had many complicated pregnancies and quite a few deliveries, too,” he says.
“We set up in a tent in the middle of a desert. It was a very challenging environment, with limited resources, temperatures over 50 degrees and an impending COVID-19 outbreak.”
“I was one of the last doctors to leave and I went home with some critically ill paediatric patients along with trying to separate the COVID-positive patients.”
From the sunshine state to service
The story of how this “Brisbane boy” – whose early aspirations of a career in medicine were nurtured while tagging along on his GP father’s rounds and pouring prune juice to nursing home residents – ended up treating Afghanistan refugees started when Luke enlisted in the Australian Army in June 1998, as a “dishevelled 18-year-old”. He was soon selected for Officer Training and graduated from the Royal Military College as a General Service Officer before embarking on his post-graduate medical studies.
“The military ended up sponsoring my medical degree, so I owed them what’s known as ‘Return of Service Obligation’,” he says.
After graduating from the University of Queensland with a MBBS in 2005, Luke undertook junior doctor training at the Royal Brisbane Hospital before completing five years of full-time military service. During this time, he completed the fellowship of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP). After transferring back to the Army Reserve, Luke undertook his FACEM training and was awarded Fellowship in 2017.
“When asked what it meant to receive this award ahead of ANZAC Day 2024, Luke says it was “an absolute honour”.”
He has held previous positions as a Trauma Emergency Registrar at the Royal Brisbane Hospital, with paediatric experience that includes completing a Fellowship in Paediatric Emergency Medicine at Queensland Children’s Hospital. As part of this, a six-month placement with Children’s Retrieval Services – conducting retrievals of critically sick and injured children throughout Queensland and Northern NSW – added to his adult retrieval experience that includes placement with the Royal Flying Doctors, Broome Regional Aeromedical Retrievals, and extensive military retrievals in Blackhawks.
In his ADF service career, Luke says he particularly enjoyed providing medical care in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, along with his deployments to Timor Leste and Nauru. A particular highlight was overseas service as the SASR medical officer to an undisclosed location.
Expect the unexpected
Back at home in Australia today, Luke balances married life with his wife and five young children with the everyday rigours of life in the busy emergency department of Queensland’s The Wesley Hospital – a career driven, he says, by a personal motto to “above all, always be kind”.
His advice for medical professionals considering work within the defence forces is to “train for the unexpected”.
“Stay broad in your depth of knowledge. Don’t train to pass the exam, but train to be a good all-round doctor” Luke says.
“Try to get out there in regional, rural and remote emergency departments…and be open to learn new things.”
One example of this approach, he says, was when he was tasked with prioritising the pregnant women refugees according to gestation – “but none of them could speak English”.
Even with a translator, Luke says “there were cultural issues with asking about last menstrual period”.
“I had an ultrasound machine that we had taken for FAST scans. I am no obstetrician, and I had a lot of pregnant women, so I wasn’t doing complicated head circumference or abdominal circumferences on the old M-Turbo. All I could do accurately was to get their femur length.”
“His advice for medical professionals considering work within the defence forces is to “train for the unexpected”.”
This way, “I could triage the pregnant patients based on estimated due date”.
Reflecting on sacrifice
When asked what it meant to receive this award ahead of ANZAC Day 2024, Luke says it was “an absolute honour”.
“To be of service to your fellow man is one of the greatest privileges that there is on this planet.”
To Luke, ANZAC Day “is not about glorifying war” but a “very sombre” day. “I have seen, first-hand, the physical and psychological damage war brings.”
It is, he explains, a day for honouring the service and sacrifices of the 1st Casualty Clearing Post Doctors that landed at ANZAC cove at five AM on the 25th of April 1915.
“I think we should all be inspired by the ingenuity, tenacity, and courage of people like Simpson and his donkey, who, despite saving hundreds, paid the ultimate sacrifice.”
