Vol. 13 Issue 3. 2019

Both women now have PhDs in
emergency services; Amee is back
at ESTA as Executive Director
Operations Support and Erin is
Course Coordinator and Senior
Lecturer in Disaster Response at
Edith Cowan University. For Amee
and Erin, joining ESTA was a positive
life-altering experience that led them
down the path of emergency services.
Both have worked in triple zero
call-taking, research, policy and
education.
They talked recently about their
experiences, the friendships and
bonds that are created in the sector
and the different career paths
emergency services offers.
Take us back to where it all
started. How did you get into the
emergency services sector?
Amee: My interest in emergency
services has always been present.
I grew up with my dad being a
The emergency services sector is filled
with people that are all the same sort of
person - community focused and their
valued alignment is very strong; selfsacrifice
and doing things that are
difficult for the greater good
Amee Morgans
paramedic. When I had nearly
finished my degree in psychology, I
got a part-time job in an ambulance
crisis-counselling unit, which
opened me up to the challenges that
emergency services workers face. I
knew I wanted to use my skill set in
the emergency services sector, which
led to me taking a job as a triple zero
call-taker.
Erin: When I first started at ESTA,
that was my springboard into an
emergency services career. As a triple
zero operator, the emergency services
world really opened up to me but the
pivotal moment for me was when
the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened.
I was working for ESTA during 9/11
and it really made me think - `what
are our emergency services people
thinking watching this unfold?
How is this going to influence our
sector in Australia?’ Since then I’ve
completed a PhD in disaster response
and have interviewed more than 100
paramedics in Melbourne, London
and New York about how 9/11
changed them and their perspective
on the work that they do.