Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal (2011) 14, 270—271
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aenj
OBITUARY
Vale Elaine Killeen RN, BN, GCertEmergNurs, GDipNursPrac, MNursPrac (Candidate), MStJ, 18 March 1973—28 August 2011
It is with great sadness the College announces the passing of Elaine Killeen on 28th August 2011. Elaine was a longstanding and much loved member of College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA), member of the CENA Victorian Branch Committee of Management, and a significant contributor to emergency nursing. Elaine’s nursing career began in 1997 as a graduate of the Preston and Northcote Community Hospital, later to become The Northern Hospital, Northern Health. She undertook her postgraduate emergency nursing course at The Northern Hospital in 1999 and since then has contributed to emergency nursing for over a decade in a variety of roles including Clinical Nurse Specialist, Associate Nurse Manager and Equipment Nurse Specialist. During this time, she 1574-6267/$ — see front matter doi:10.1016/j.aenj.2011.09.114
also held project roles coordinating a major change in the Emergency Department Information System and significant upgrade to patient monitoring systems at Northern Health. In 2008, Elaine was promoted to role of Quality & Safety Coordinator for Surgical & Anaesthetic Services and shared with many clinicians her knowledge and expertise. Elaine was a volunteer member of St. John since 1985 and was always destined for a career in a caring profession: how fortunate we are, that she chose nursing. She volunteered at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 providing health assessment and triage for Games officials. Her sense of service, generosity of spirit and exemplary community service was formally recognised in 2010 when the Governor General admitted her to the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem — one of her proudest moments. In her CENA life, Elaine joined the Victorian Branch Management Committee in 2006 where she made an enormous contribution to emergency nursing at both national and international levels. She played a leadership role in educating emergency nurses and organised many CENA Victoria education forums. Elaine also served on CENA’s Professional Standards Committee. In 2006, Elaine made her debut as a presenter the CENA national conference in Hobart when she co-presented a paper related to the role of emergency nurses at major events after working at the Melbourne Commonwealth games. In 2007, Elaine joined other CENA Victorian branch members in organising the International Emergency Nursing Conference in Melbourne. The conference was a resounding success attracting delegates from all over the world. As an aside, there has not been a conference dinner with such coordinated stationary and table decorations since! Elaine was a keen photographer and took great pride in recording
Obituary the good times. In particular, her enthusiasm for recording the CENA conference dinners means that many of us have lasting images of great times with our colleagues. It was also 2007 when Elaine decided to undertake a Master of Nursing at Deakin University. True to her equipment nurse specialist background, her research examined the correlation between end tidal carbon dioxide and arterial carbon dioxide levels in spontaneously breathing patients. Such as was the calibre of her research that she was awarded a Northern Health Small research grant and Nurses’ Memorial Centre Postgraduate Education Grant and Nurses’ Memorial Centre Vivian Bullwinkle Award. Her career continued to develop as she started teaching undergraduate nursing students at Deakin University and there is not a finer role model for our nurses of the future. As her research progressed, she presented her work nationally in 2009 at the CENA International Conference for Emergency Nurses (Gold Coast) and internationally at the Prince of Songkla University International Conference in
271 Thailand in 2010. The conference was co-hosted by Deakin University and Elaine was an eager participant in a research workshop for Masters students from Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh. She was generous with her emergency nursing, disaster and research expertise, sincerely interested in nurses undertaking research despite significant challenges, and forged new and highly valued friendships with colleagues half a world away. Elaine has stayed connected with her international colleagues and they adore her greatly. Elaine ‘Laney’ Killeen was known for her effervescent personality, amazing smile, endless vigour and enthusiasm, and aggressive generosity. Words cannot justly express Laney’s selfless and enormous contribution to the profession we love so much, but emergency nursing and CENA is all the better for knowing Elaine Killeen: she will be sadly missed. CENA Board of Directors 22 September, 2011