Reserves Day 2021: supporting the NHS during Covid
Captain Gardner is a Regimental Training Officer for 335 Medical Evacuation Regiment and Advanced Critical Care Practitioner for the NHS. Over the past year she has stepped up to deliver vital training at the NHS Nightingale Hospital in London
Captain Gardner first joined the Reserves in January 2008 as a soldier, a role that took her on deployment to Afghanistan on Op Herrick, as well as completing UN Peacekeeping Tours in Cyprus.
In 2017 she commissioned as an officer, deciding to move to 335 Medical Evacuation Regiment, which provides a dedicated medical evacuation capability to support operations and exercises. This was closely aligned with her civilian role as an Advanced Critical Care Practitioner at Kings College Hospital London.
“In my Reservist role I’ve had access to a network of professionals that could support me clinically. My medical training within the Reserves has massively supported my education and development within the NHS both in terms of leadership and clinical experience. That has enabled me to thrive in my civilian role.”
When COVID struck in Spring 2020, Captain Gardner decided to put her medical and leadership skills to help, volunteering at the NHS Nightingale London within her civilian role. When the Nightingale was opened, she was asked to develop a training facility for the many thousands of volunteers coming forward.
“A lot of them had never even worked in a hospital before, let alone critical care. So we had to quickly develop some kind of training facility to establish what level of training they already had in terms of medicine — some of them were nurses or doctors, some were wedding planners or mountaineers! So we had to decide where they would fit within the wider Nightingale team and then deliver a training package that would be able to get them up to a safe standard to work within the NHS.”
Captain Gardner undertook her volunteer NHS work on days off, in between normal clinical shifts at Kings where she was treating COVID patients. She was also able to continue her Reserve career, as her unit switched to virtual training throughout the year, making it easier to fit in with the pressures of her civilian work.
Her experience as a Reservist has helped give her the resilience and determination to handle this demanding situation:
“During the pandemic, every single healthcare worker has been working outside of their comfort zone. I think one of the main things that my military training has been able to give me is that resolve to be able to volunteer for extra work, knowing that if you’ve got the right skills, then it’s your duty to go and offer those. It gave me the ability to cope with demanding situations — when I was deployed in Afghanistan the heat was horrendous but I knew I had a job to be done.
“It’s so important to be able to look out for your colleagues like you would look out for your team on deployment and being able to support people through these tough situations.
“I think the military also teaches you in difficult moments to try and bring in a bit of humour to help the situation whenever possible. Even in the darkest of times, we always managed to have a bit of a laugh.”
Reserves Day 2021 demonstrates the important role that all of our Reservists carry out around the globe, and their continued hard work to keep the UK safe both at home and abroad 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
