Page 47 - QARANC Vol 15 No 1 2017

The Unveiling Of The Painting
‘What Matters Most’
Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex, Colonel in Chief QARANC and Patron of the QARANC Association, honoured the Corps by unveiling a painting by Mr Stuart Brown titled ‘What Matters Most’ on Friday 18 November 2016.
The painting was commissioned by the QARANC Association to help capture the significant contribution made by Queen Alexandra’s Royal Army Nursing Corps on Operation GRITROCK which deployed in support of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone late in 2014. The unveiling formed part of the Chief Nursing Officer’s Study Day which was attended by over 150 QARANC delegates selected from the range of ranks specialities and locations.
The Army deployed in support of Operation GRITROCK in 2014. The hospital contingent was led by 22 Field Hospital.The Commanding Officer at the time was Col Alison McCourt OBE ARRC L/QARANC. The mission to control the Ebola outbreak was deemed to be successful. In order to record the clinical contribution to the mission and to mark its historical significance Lt Col Mark Bailey RAMC led a project to commission two oil paintings. The artist, Mr Stuart Brown, was commissioned to create two paintings, one with a clinical emphasis and the other to represent another aspect of the tour. ‘What Matters Most’
captures a poignant bedside scene on Operation GRITROCK. The second painting titled ‘The Ebola Survivor Dance’ gave an opportunity to deal with a happier aspect of the mission.
Lt Col Bailey sought advice and feedback from in excess of 50 Operation GRITROCK veterans with clinical staff preferring the first & non- clinical staff preferring the second. A team of veterans have continued to work with the artist Mr Stuart Brown to examine the finer detail of each painting and ensure accuracy in so far as possible. As the draft sketches were
released in October 2015, the RAMC Association and QARANC Association were asked to consider which painting they wished to fund. It was decided that the QARANC Association would fund ‘What Matters Most’ and the RAMC agreed to fund the ‘The Ebola Survivor Dance’. The latter picture will not be completed until mid 2017 but it is hoped that the completed works of art will be co-located.
Prints of ‘What Matters Most’ are available to purchase from the Museum of Military Medicine.
THE GAZETTE QARANC 45
“What Matters Most” – Presentation to DMS Whittington
The oil painting titled “What Matters
Most”, which commemorates
QARANC involvement in Operational
Gritrock was unveiled by the Countess
of Wessex as Colonel in Chief of
the QARANC on the 18 November
2016. Following the unveiling the
Defence Medical Services Whittington
was kindly presented a copy of the
painting by the QARANC Association, which was unveiled and presented at a Health Care Assistant graduation
ceremony on the 22 December 2016 by the Chief Nursing Officer (Army) Colonel Karen Irvine. The painting is now displayed proudly on the wall within the Defence Medical Services, Training School Keogh Building, where students and staff can visually see the care and compassion given to an Ebola patient in Sierra Leone.
Cpl Ella Chambers QARANC HCA Instructor