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Emergencies Only: A Nurse's Journey Through Natural Disasters, Extreme Poverty, Civil Wars and General Chaos
The extraordinary true story of an Australian nurse's work at the forefront of global medical emergencies.
In 2015, Amanda McClelland was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal, in recognition of an extraordinary career dedicated to making a difference. As a nurse and a humanitarian aid worker she has battled against extreme poverty, disease epidemics and natural disasters, helping to rebuild broken lives and strengthen communities across the globe.
From nursing in remote Indigenous communities in Australia's Top End to re-building villages after the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami in Aceh, from fighting famine in Sub Saharan Africa to facing kidnapping on the war-torn streets of Mogadishu, from battling cyclone damage in PNG to heading up the Red Cross's West African Ebola response, Amanda has faced huge challenges and collected incredible stories along the way.
Emergencies Only is not a compendium of tragedy, but an eye-opening life-lesson in practicality, compassion and good humour, written with empathy and an eye for detail, and filled with the human stories that lie behind the headlines.
In 2015, Amanda McClelland was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal, in recognition of an extraordinary career dedicated to making a difference. As a nurse and a humanitarian aid worker she has battled against extreme poverty, disease epidemics and natural disasters, helping to rebuild broken lives and strengthen communities across the globe.
From nursing in remote Indigenous communities in Australia's Top End to re-building villages after the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami in Aceh, from fighting famine in Sub Saharan Africa to facing kidnapping on the war-torn streets of Mogadishu, from battling cyclone damage in PNG to heading up the Red Cross's West African Ebola response, Amanda has faced huge challenges and collected incredible stories along the way.
Emergencies Only is not a compendium of tragedy, but an eye-opening life-lesson in practicality, compassion and good humour, written with empathy and an eye for detail, and filled with the human stories that lie behind the headlines.
336 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2017
9 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 8, 2019
I really enjoyed this book. Amanda is honest, candid, and quite humorous in the way she writes, and moves quickly from one 'story' to the next which meant I was constantly engaged and didn't want to put the book down. I've read other other humanitarian memoirs which were quite monotonous and I have struggled to finish, but due to extraordinary life Amanda has lived, Emergencies Only was full of variety and left me wanting to read more. The only person who was glad when I finished it, was my husband because I kept trying to share snippets of stories from it with him but never did them justice.
June 12, 2018
I love these kinds of books, ones that lets you put on the shoes (in this case, Blundstones) of completely different person living a completely different and extraordinary life.
I found this book equally informative and amusing, good to see Aussie humour in even life threatening situations.
It has definitely made me pause and check I remember how lucky I am.
I’ve already recommended to all my reader friends, I really enjoyed it.
I found this book equally informative and amusing, good to see Aussie humour in even life threatening situations.
It has definitely made me pause and check I remember how lucky I am.
I’ve already recommended to all my reader friends, I really enjoyed it.
June 11, 2025
This is an incredible book full of stories of the author's life working as a nurse across the globe. She worked in the north of Australia with indigenous communities, Aceh after the tsunami, a number of African countries, PNG and Nepal. The challenges were many and varied, and full of crises.
She is a very strong woman, and her experiences are not for the faint hearted.
I found it a fascinating story, honestly done, across a couple of decades.
She is a very strong woman, and her experiences are not for the faint hearted.
I found it a fascinating story, honestly done, across a couple of decades.
September 18, 2017
A nice, easy read. I learned a few things and thought some of Amanda's insights were quite valuable, but I did sometimes roll my eyes at her initial stereotypes of the world, such as when she worked with an Indonesian woman in Aceh who 'turned her whole image of a Muslim woman on its head'.
Overall, an enjoyable read.
Overall, an enjoyable read.
January 6, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found each chapter fascinating to read. Fabulous insight into day to day life managing major crises around the world, and the importance of individuals dedicated to improving the lives of others.
March 14, 2019
She says in the Epilogue that she is a nurse and a humanitarian with a few good stories to tell. The stories are far better than good and the telling is both understated and compelling. Strongly recommended.
January 21, 2020
In this novel Amanda McClelland recounts her life as a nurse turned humanitarian aid worker/ engineer/ town planner/ public health specialist. From her work in outback Australia with the indigenous communities to disaster relief in Indonesia, in a conflict zone hospital in South Sudan, nutrition programs in Somalia and being one of the first on the scene in the East African Ebola outbreak Amanda has experienced many challenges and collected many stories that she shares with the reader.
Although Amanda did not only collect stories, she also collected an array of diseases that someone in the western world could surely only contract from working in field medicine as she does. These include tropical ulcers, dengue fever, whooping cough and brucellosis. Along with these diseases trying to take her down Amanda also has a near death experience with a tree in Liberia and is arrested by the Rwandan Army whilst working in the DRC.
Amanda’s writing is honest and humorous, it is clear she does not view herself as a hero but rather as a normal person with a job to do, her job is just very different and a lot more dangerous than your everyday white collar workers.
This book was a really fun and educational read and Amanda tells her stories that will have you laughing and gasping in shock from one page to the next.
My last comment about this novel is please write another book Amanda, tell me what you have been doing with your amazing life since the Ebola crisis, i need more!!
Although Amanda did not only collect stories, she also collected an array of diseases that someone in the western world could surely only contract from working in field medicine as she does. These include tropical ulcers, dengue fever, whooping cough and brucellosis. Along with these diseases trying to take her down Amanda also has a near death experience with a tree in Liberia and is arrested by the Rwandan Army whilst working in the DRC.
Amanda’s writing is honest and humorous, it is clear she does not view herself as a hero but rather as a normal person with a job to do, her job is just very different and a lot more dangerous than your everyday white collar workers.
This book was a really fun and educational read and Amanda tells her stories that will have you laughing and gasping in shock from one page to the next.
My last comment about this novel is please write another book Amanda, tell me what you have been doing with your amazing life since the Ebola crisis, i need more!!
January 19, 2022
Really interesting stories about working as a nurse in public health settings, dealing with famine and disaster, I know even moreso this is not for me.
August 22, 2022
Fabulous!
August 12, 2020
“In 2015, Amanda McClelland was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal, in recognition of an extraordinary career dedicated to making a difference. As a nurse and a humanitarian aid worker she has battled against extreme poverty, disease epidemics and natural disasters, helping to rebuild broken lives and strengthen communities across the globe.”
I expected something more like Aussie Midwives or Island Nurses with more individual nursing stories. What I got though was a discussion of humanitarian aid and her movements from plain nursing through to team management and recommendations. Everything is underlined by her compassion and practicality as well.
Ew! Some of these stories are likely to horrify a weak-stomached reader. I couldn’t stop thinking about her just casually slicing out a pus filled ulcer on her chest! Others are just horrifyingly sad – mothers who lose their lives and also their babies, or babies that can’t possibly survive. She’s not a midwife, but looking after children and improving mortality rates ends up being a huge part of her job.
In a way, this book reminds me of How (not) to Start an Orphanage – it has both what should and shouldn’t be done, and talks about the hardships on essentially white people living in third world countries. Sometimes the interventions create more problems than they solve. Amanda really illuminates how the best of intentions can lead to problems if they aren’t carried out with the community’s support and full understanding.
What upsets me in general (not about this book at all) is how sometimes things at home should have been fixed before we go elsewhere to aid others. Amanda works in an indigenous community that is filled with drug and alcohol fueled violence and horrible living conditions in places. Maybe we should try to work out how we can help our own people first?
Did you enjoy this goodreads review? If so you may find it useful to visit my blog The Cosy Dragon . I regularly post new reviews on a variety of genres.
I expected something more like Aussie Midwives or Island Nurses with more individual nursing stories. What I got though was a discussion of humanitarian aid and her movements from plain nursing through to team management and recommendations. Everything is underlined by her compassion and practicality as well.
Ew! Some of these stories are likely to horrify a weak-stomached reader. I couldn’t stop thinking about her just casually slicing out a pus filled ulcer on her chest! Others are just horrifyingly sad – mothers who lose their lives and also their babies, or babies that can’t possibly survive. She’s not a midwife, but looking after children and improving mortality rates ends up being a huge part of her job.
In a way, this book reminds me of How (not) to Start an Orphanage – it has both what should and shouldn’t be done, and talks about the hardships on essentially white people living in third world countries. Sometimes the interventions create more problems than they solve. Amanda really illuminates how the best of intentions can lead to problems if they aren’t carried out with the community’s support and full understanding.
What upsets me in general (not about this book at all) is how sometimes things at home should have been fixed before we go elsewhere to aid others. Amanda works in an indigenous community that is filled with drug and alcohol fueled violence and horrible living conditions in places. Maybe we should try to work out how we can help our own people first?
Did you enjoy this goodreads review? If so you may find it useful to visit my blog The Cosy Dragon . I regularly post new reviews on a variety of genres.
August 12, 2020
“In 2015, Amanda McClelland was awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal, in recognition of an extraordinary career dedicated to making a difference. As a nurse and a humanitarian aid worker she has battled against extreme poverty, disease epidemics and natural disasters, helping to rebuild broken lives and strengthen communities across the globe.”
I expected something more like Aussie Midwives or Island Nurses with more individual nursing stories. What I got though was a discussion of humanitarian aid and her movements from plain nursing through to team management and recommendations. Everything is underlined by her compassion and practicality as well.
Ew! Some of these stories are likely to horrify a weak-stomached reader. I couldn’t stop thinking about her just casually slicing out a pus filled ulcer on her chest! Others are just horrifyingly sad – mothers who lose their lives and also their babies, or babies that can’t possibly survive. She’s not a midwife, but looking after children and improving mortality rates ends up being a huge part of her job.
In a way, this book reminds me of How (not) to Start an Orphanage – it has both what should and shouldn’t be done, and talks about the hardships on essentially white people living in third world countries. Sometimes the interventions create more problems than they solve. Amanda really illuminates how the best of intentions can lead to problems if they aren’t carried out with the community’s support and full understanding.
What upsets me in general (not about this book at all) is how sometimes things at home should have been fixed before we go elsewhere to aid others. Amanda works in an indigenous community that is filled with drug and alcohol fueled violence and horrible living conditions in places. Maybe we should try to work out how we can help our own people first?
Did you enjoy this goodreads review? If so you may find it useful to visit my blog The Cosy Dragon . I regularly post new reviews on a variety of genres.
I expected something more like Aussie Midwives or Island Nurses with more individual nursing stories. What I got though was a discussion of humanitarian aid and her movements from plain nursing through to team management and recommendations. Everything is underlined by her compassion and practicality as well.
Ew! Some of these stories are likely to horrify a weak-stomached reader. I couldn’t stop thinking about her just casually slicing out a pus filled ulcer on her chest! Others are just horrifyingly sad – mothers who lose their lives and also their babies, or babies that can’t possibly survive. She’s not a midwife, but looking after children and improving mortality rates ends up being a huge part of her job.
In a way, this book reminds me of How (not) to Start an Orphanage – it has both what should and shouldn’t be done, and talks about the hardships on essentially white people living in third world countries. Sometimes the interventions create more problems than they solve. Amanda really illuminates how the best of intentions can lead to problems if they aren’t carried out with the community’s support and full understanding.
What upsets me in general (not about this book at all) is how sometimes things at home should have been fixed before we go elsewhere to aid others. Amanda works in an indigenous community that is filled with drug and alcohol fueled violence and horrible living conditions in places. Maybe we should try to work out how we can help our own people first?
Did you enjoy this goodreads review? If so you may find it useful to visit my blog The Cosy Dragon . I regularly post new reviews on a variety of genres.
May 7, 2022
Эта книга - напоминание о том, что ты не один на один со стихиями и катастрофой, эпидемиями и ужасными условиями жизни. Что есть люди, которым не все равно, даже если это их работа. А они делают ее хорошо. Книга лечит от отчаяния.
February 9, 2019
500 stars.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews