Nurse Paula Tobin has told of her pride at being presented with a newly-created Humanitarian Medal by King Charles for her work in war-torn Gaza.
Brave Paula, 57, from Tavistock, was among the first to be awarded the honour in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday (February 19) for her life-saving work at a Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) funded emergency field hospital.
She spent four months in Gaza, over three deployments, volunteering for frontline medical charity UK-Med, and is due to return again in April. She has previously served in other humanitarian crises, including the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014, Ukraine and the Turkey earthquake.
Paula, from Tavistock, said: “I found it much easier packing my bag to go out to Gaza than deciding what to wear to Buckingham Palace to meet the King.
“It is lovely to have my work recognised and my mum was absolutely over the moon when she heard the news.
“Being able to take her to the palace hopefully goes a long way to making up for all the worry I’ve put her through over the years. I think any aid worker would say it is hardest for your family back home.
“Gaza’s been a tough one because it is so much in the news. Each time I come back and I am okay, my family get a tiny bit more relaxed, but they do say ‘just don’t go again’.
“I’ve told them I am returning in April and my response is always ‘you know this is me, it’s what I do. I’ll be fine’.”
Paula, an emergency department nurse in Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, previously served with Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps.
She received her Humanitarian Medal for helping establish two FCDO funded emergency field hospitals in Al Mawasi and Deir El Balah, which have treated 300,000 patients.
Paula admits feeling guilt about leaving her Palestinian work colleagues behind: “You really get to know the people you are working with out there and the hardship they and their families are going through.
“There’s a theatre nurse who is an amazing woman, and she’s lost three of her four children since this conflict erupted. I don’t know how she does it.
“I have so much love and respect for them and it doesn’t seem fair that I can pop up for six or eight weeks then get to return to a normal life. Whereas for them, there is no escape.”
“I am delighted the first tranche of awards will recognise members of the UK government’s emergency deployment teams, for their brave work in Libya, Morocco and Gaza.
“The International Search and Rescue Team and Emergency Medical Team are made up of expert firefighters and medics from across the UK, who travel to the most challenging of environments to save lives.”
